I have often used drawings as a means to better help my patients communicate their intuitive wisdom and unexpressed feelings. Below are several examples of patients who expressed their self esteem (or lack of it) through drawings they made. (Click each image to view it full size.)
This first drawing (right) was done by a boy who asked me to fix his body because the kids were teasing him in the locker room at school. I asked him to draw himself in the operating room and despite a full box of crayons being available, he picked only black and drew an insect on the operating table. My message to his parents was that he needed their love and not just endless plastic surgery.
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next pair of drawings (left) were made by a man who, when asked to draw himself, did so with no legs on. So I asked him if he were feeling trapped or stuck. He said for me to turn the page over and on the other side he finished his drawing. This revealed nice self esteem when he needed more than one page to display himself.
Finally, this last drawing shows a woman who looks pregnant. It was drawn by an anorexic who was hospitalized because she was starving herself to death. So what we see when we look in the mirror may have nothing to do with our appearance, but everything to do with our sense of self worth and esteem.