Beginning with a 2020 interview, Barry M. Cohen describes his journey from artist to art therapist and the creation of the Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS) in the early 1980s. Combining three drawing tasks with the systematic study of therapeutic art productions, this first art therapy research study of its kind sought to identify graphic profiles of people who shared the same DSM diagnoses. It also was the first systematic study of how “healthy” adults draw.

Following is a 25-minute Zoom lecture given by Cohen in 2020 to an audience of Portuguese arts therapists. It provides a concise overview of the DDS through its materials, tasks, and rating system, along with examples of DDSs by people with various diagnoses. The Series allows for a broad range of psychological and graphic responses. Each one of the trio of standardized tasks reflects the particular way an individual responds to a specific directive and structure. Through a standardized rating system, pictorial characteristics, including use of line, shape, color, and other aspects of structural organization are correlated with the diagnoses of the people who created the pictures.

The final chapter is archival footage of Cohen administering a DDS to a client in the 1990s integrated with a contemporary commentary by him describing the administration process and the client’s response.

Includes an Interview with Barry M. Cohen, ATR-BC

This video was formerly included in the Expressive Media Arts Therapies Films Collection distributed by Expressive Media. Inc