Animal Art Therapy Guide

Animal Art Therapy for Mental Health
Nature of the Therapy:
Animals, just like people, have different personalities. Some are quiet and peaceful while others may be
wild and vicious. Some are leaders in their herds while others may just be the followers. Animal art therapy
may be used to get to know more about a person. To let clients in therapy draw animals may let the
counselor or therapist discover the personalities of their clients. Some clients may draw calm animals which
may signify that they are reserved or shy. Others may draw valiant animals which may indicate that they,
too, have strong personalities. Unlike drawing a person, animal drawings are friendlier and somewhat less
intrusive most especially for children.
It would also be possible that the animals drawn are pets of the client. This would also help the therapist
learn the personality of the client. The therapist would try to explore what kind of relationship the client
has with his or her pet. A caring pet owner may suggest that the client is a compassionate person while a
person who does not treat his or her pets appropriately may imply aggressive behavior.
Aside from uncovering personalities, animal art therapy may also help in bringing out concerns of the client.
The client may draw animals that would represent worries or problems that they are experiencing and how
they think and feel about those concerns. Also, animals may also represent one’s dreams. Through the
questions of the therapist, it may be realized that a client is seeing himself or herself trying to achieve
something that would be brought about by the drawing. Moreover, animal art therapy may also help in
uncovering the dream of a client. With the help of the therapist’s inquiry about the drawing, this therapy
may make the client see what things he or she wants to achieve.
This therapy is suitable for both children and adults as long as they are able to draw and will be able to
answer the questions of the therapist that would be asked afterwards.
Procedure:
The therapist would present to the client the materials needed for the session. These are a piece of short
bond paper, a pencil and crayons.
The client would be told to relax first. He or she may close her eyes. The therapist would then say that the
client think of the first animal that comes into his or her mind at that moment. The client would have to
imagine what that animal looks like, what it’s doing and where it is to be found. The client would imagine
the animal and its surroundings. When the client is ready, the therapist would let the client draw that
animal along with its surroundings.
When the client is done with the drawing, the therapist would ask questions about the drawing. It would be
the job of the therapist to explore on the drawings by asking the client some questions about it. Following
are some examples of questions that may be asked by the therapist:
1. What animal did you draw? Would you like to give it a name?
2. What are its characteristics? Describe your animal?
3. What do you like about the animal you drew?
4. What don’t you like about the animal you drew?
5. In what ways are you similar to this animal?
6. In what ways are you different from this animal?
7. Describe the place where the animal is located. What is the weather in this picture?
8. Look at the picture, what is the feeling in this picture? What overall feeling does this whole picture
have?
9. What/Who does the animal remind you of?
10. Was there a time that you felt that way? Elaborate.
These questions may be interchanged or other questions may be formulated depending on how the client
associates with the drawing. Also, the therapist may revise the questions depending on the mental capacity
of the client.
After the therapist has sufficient information, he or she will then tell the client to draw a second animal in
the picture. The client may place the animal anywhere in the picture. When the client is done, another set
of questions will be asked by the therapist. The following are some questions that the therapist may ask:
1. What is the second animal that you drew? Would you like to give it a name?
2. What did animal 1 feel when animal 2 came into the picture?
3. What did animal 2 feel when he saw animal 1?
4. What did animal 1 do after animal 2 came?
5. What did animal 2 came when he saw animal 1?
6. Is there a change in the weather when animal 2 came?
7. What/Who does animal 2 remind you of?
8. How can you make this picture feel better? How are you going to do it?
9. Is there anything you want to change in this picture?
10. Are you contented with your drawing?
Once more, the therapist may interchange the sequence of the questions or may ask questions other than
the ones listed depending on what would come across in the conversation. The therapist may also ask the
client to color the picture and if the client would like to do so while the therapist inquires about the
drawing.
The therapist can then end the session of he or she feels that there is adequate information on the client.

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Animal Art Therapy for Mental Health

Nature of the Therapy:

2. What are its characteristics? Describe your animal?

3. What do you like about the animal you drew?

4. What don’t you like about the animal you drew?

5. In what ways are you similar to this animal?

6. In what ways are you different from this animal?

9. What/Who does the animal remind you of?

3. What did animal 2 feel when he saw animal 1?

4. What did animal 1 do after animal 2 came?

5. What did animal 2 came when he saw animal 1?

6. Is there a change in the weather when animal 2 came?

7. What/Who does animal 2 remind you of?

9. Is there anything you want to change in this picture?

10. Are you contented with your drawing?

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