Using Drawings in Clinical Practice: Enhancing Intake Interviews and Psychological Testing

Using Drawings in Clinical Practice is a gift to the field. Through a comprehensive approach describing the use of drawings as aids in the cognitive and emotional understanding of clients in mental health practice, Oster provides a valuable counterpoint to highly structured diagnostic and treatment systems that often are unable to provide an in depth understanding of clients' inner lives. This important book should be of value to a diverse group of mental health practitioners.

-Stewart Gabel, MD, former chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Children's Hospital Colorado

Gerald Oster has written a comprehensive and expansive book that can be used as a teaching tool for mental health professionals and students. The case studies are personalized, pertinent, and thought provoking. The drawings tangibly display worries and concerns so they can be evaluated for the benefit of healthy therapeutic interventions. Throughout the book, Dr. Oster describes methods all mental health professionals can utilize in their everyday practice. From introduction to evaluation to closing, this book gives in-depth insight.

-Marcie Brooks, MA, LPCC, therapist in private practice and adjunct faculty at Southwestern College

As a psychologist using drawings mainly with my PTSD/DID clients, I appreciate this book's coverage of reasons to use art forms, case vignettes, historic background, and resources. Therapists of all experience levels will find Using Drawings in Clinical Practice useful; it has encouraged me to offer drawing to my adult clientele. Thank you, Dr. Oster!

-Joan M. Offerle, PhD, Austin, Texas

Gerald Oster has written a richly detailed and highly accessible guide to generating and making strategic use of images in assessment and therapy, regardless of one's theoretical orientation. This thoughtfully constructed text empowers clinicians to compassionately elicit drawings and verbal metaphors to support efficient rapport building, emotional expression, and perspective taking. Clients of all ages and diagnostic histories can benefit from these simple, brief approaches and the conversations that ensue. Plentiful case illustrations aid the reader's learning.

-Joshua Semiatin, PhD, clinical psychologist, Baltimore, Maryland

Gerald Oster's Using Drawinsg in Clinical Practice... provides strong support for the use of these drawings when working with challenging clients, and he argues that projective drawings help in developing more accurate treatment recommendations for the client... Oster includes rich case examples and sample drawings to enhance his discussion of these tools... Oster provides numerous drawing tasts taht will be useful to clinicians looking to connect with clients and aid in gathering data to inform treatment.

--Meera Rastogi, University of Cincinnati, PsycCritiques