Counselors closely engage with young ones use numerous therapeutic tools and techniques

from several theoretical approaches. Metaphors and drawing are increasingly being integrated
into play therapy. Indeed, clients can express complicated information and ideas that would
otherwise be difficult owing to a poor vocabulary by using metaphors and drawings.
Additionally, clients can display their inner perception with the therapist in the therapy
session's outer world via the actual synthesis of artistic expressions. This analysis provides an
in-depth exploration into the Jungian approaches regarding metaphors and drawing strategies
in therapy.

Overview of Jungian Approach

Jungian therapy, often recognized as Jungian analysis, is a psychoanalytic approach created by

renowned psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung. Jung is regarded as one of the founders of
contemporary comprehensive psychology, notably of the unconscious mind, with Sigmund
Freud. Despite working together for a long time, Jung and Freud ultimately split up owing to
opposing beliefs. While Sigmund Freud felt that the unconscious and the dreams are individual
things, Jung thought that the individual unconscious is simply the top layer of a much broader
collective unconscious. This is the genetic, unpredictable element of the human psyche
composed of trends (archetypes) common to all people. According to Jungian counseling, these
trends can illustrate why people have tendencies they cannot overcome, like obsessions,
sadness, and anxiety. As a result, the method tries to investigate these archetypes to gain a
greater insight into oneself. Jungian counseling can aid people to identify what is out of order in
their psyche by guiding them via a journey to self-awareness, change, and actualization. This
will enable them to make deliberate adjustments that will assist them in becoming more
harmonious and whole.

Application of drawings in therapy

Youngsters use play to experience the world around them and to uncover their talents and
capabilities. Because of the youngsters' lack of linguistic skills, play helps youngsters to express
complicated thoughts and concepts that would otherwise be unthinkable (Association for Play
Therapy, 2000). Furthermore, play allows youngsters to make understanding of their inner and
exterior worlds and look for methods to link the two. Therapists engaging with children employ
a variety of play strategies to analyze and satisfy their patients' therapeutic objectives.
Theoretical approaches and particular assumptions about social interaction and transformation
are used to develop therapy procedures.

Therapists must acknowledge the youngster and help the youngster to contribute to the
session, offer an environment where the youngster feels open to voice emotions, convey
emotions – to the child, and honor the youngster's potential to fix their concerns, according to
Axline (1989), an early founder of youngster-based play therapy. When interacting with kids,
"efforts must be taken to invite and support self-expression," according to Gil (1991), a play and
art therapist (p.66). Drawing is an example of a creative outlet that promotes self-direction and
consciousness. Drawings became important in psychoanalysis in the 1800s as a way to uncover
the unconscious mind. In 1905, Sigmund Freud described Little Hans' drawings as a way to
"surface unconscious thoughts via visuals" (Malchiodi, 2003, p. 42). Naumburg (1966) rose to
prominence as a psychoanalyst who used involuntary drawings. Since then, there has been a
rise in innovative strategies in child's therapy, including art, visualization, and symbolic imagery.
As art application in youngster therapy grew, so made the application of metaphor and
drawings to assess a kid's intellectual level and mental well-being. Children's views,
dispositions, and personalities were studied using spatial drawing exams (Malchiodi, 2003).

Art is now a recognized method in counseling and psychotherapy and is incorporated into the
sessions. Art therapy is a type of therapy that uses the creative process of art to help
youngsters improve their emotional, psychological, and physical well-being. "The creative
procedure integrated in masterful self-expression aids in the management of disputes and
troubles, the development of interpersonal skills, the management of habits, the reduction of
anxiety, the rise of self-esteem and consciousness, and the attainment of understanding"
(American Art Therapy Association, 2006).

Drawings

Drawings became important in psychoanalysis in the 1800s because they helped disclose the
unconscious. Freud initially documented on Little Hans' drawings to introduce unconscious
information to the forefront via visuals. Since then, client's counseling has incorporated
innovative methods like drawings and metaphorical imagery. Art is still used in play therapy
sessions today because it harnesses the inventive system to help clients' physical, psychological,
including emotional health. When dealing with young ones, therapists utilize drawings as a
form of expression. Drawings allow for the secure depiction of perceptions and emotions in
manners that words cannot (Hagood, 2000; Oster & Gould, 1987). A white sheet of paper
serves as a "safe area" for the youngster to articulate themselves in a non-threatening way
(Allan, 1988). "Internal conceptions regarding self and the world" can be "created" through
drawing (Malchiodi, 2003, p. 155). Malchiodi (2001) states that these graphic representations
"bring difficulties to the surface, therefore increasing the assisting expert's power to engage
and support troublesome youngsters."

Most play therapists favor strategies developed from Jung's Analytical Psychology (Peery, 2002,
p. 408), even though "youngster-based play therapy is the most generally adopted play therapy
methodology," rooted in the humanistic approach. The therapist's method of drawing
assessments is influenced by the specific therapeutic techniques of play therapy. While child-
centered play therapy is non-directive, Jungian therapists provide varying degrees of guidance
during therapeutic sessions. This question about how much direction a play therapist should
give also applies to art therapy and drawings. While some therapists like to take a directing
approach when sketching strategies, others favor using a non-directive approach. The non-
directive and directive tactics, according to psychologists, get into the unconscious of the
person. As a result, based on the therapist, the client's art manifestations in therapy are
regarded from differing viewpoints and concerns. Drawings are employed in psychotherapy as
an evaluation or screening tool and as a therapeutic intervention.

Jungian drawings
According to Jung (1934), the purpose of psychotherapy is "to render unconscious information
available and so edge it to the child's comprehension." According to Jung, an equilibrium
between the awareness and unconscious is required to achieve wholeness and meaning. In this
perspective, the therapist's awareness of the "nature of the psyche, the significance of play,
and the therapeutic objective's impact on the play therapy cycle" is more significant than
specific approaches (de Domenico, 1994). Individuals who work with Jungian therapists are
encouraged to accept their uniqueness.

Self-realization is primarily achieved through play. Ego disruptions are exacerbated by a lack of
psychological coping mechanisms, familial psychopathology, stress, and teaching methods,
upbringing, and socializing youngsters. The counselor's function is to watch, try to comprehend,
incorporate, and explain the significance of play. While the psychotherapist offers opportunity
inside the playground, vocally praises the kid, gives a profound degree of empathic
comprehension, and offers tenderness and compassion, the client works via inner and
unconscious tensions. The therapist's objective for the patient is to acquire a sense of
independence and emancipation. These features operate as a trigger for therapeutic
transformation.

Like Freud's psychoanalytic technique of voluntary association, random art manifestation allows
access to the internal domain to assist healing. "Pictures are unconscious communication in its
purest form" (Furth, 2002, p. 4). Jung investigated art archetypes and observed that the images
created in drawings reflect the psyche's effort to evolve and recover. Once unconscious
knowledge is discovered in drawings and decoded, it gives therapeutic understanding into the
client's reality. Youngsters can express their feelings and thoughts in non-threatening and
secure manners through random sketching, a Jungian semi-directive structured approach. The
youngster picks the drawing's topic, demonstrating self-control and competence. A random
sketch externalizes feelings that might be difficult to express verbally. Improvisational drawings
are made by inviting the customer to draw whatever he or she wants. Most people believe that
spontaneity is essential to the cycle of art therapy.

General use of metaphor in therapy

Metaphors could be applied to several parts of a client's mental makeup ('psyche') or life
events. Wickman et al. (1999) claim that therapists can utilize theoretical metaphors to obtain
access to and comprehend patients' innermost desires in addition to presenting exterior
occurrences. That interaction between individuals can be enhanced if they grasp each other's
metaphors. This aligns with Kopp's (1995) metaphors paradigm of cognitive-metaphoric
structures, with a focus on the three categories of "self," "other," and "self-in-relation-to-
other." On the other hand, McMullen and Conway's (1996) paradigm emphasizes metaphorical
self-manifestations and metaphors of or about feeling.

Metaphor has the expressive ability to an emotional extent, and it has long been shown to
"reach a wellspring of feelings by revealing personal linkages at the fundamental scale of
human encounter" (Zindel, 2001, p. 9). Finding appropriate personal metaphors can offer
purpose and meaning to one's soul to such a profound extend. Existing literature emphasizes
the interaction between metaphor and the unconscious at a greater scale, implying that their
most evocative symbols come from the collective unconscious. Though therapists might utilize
the metaphorical concept of 'parts' to plot the interior features of the character, generally, all
components are in a dynamic relationship and have a comprehensive, incorporating purpose.
As a result, metaphor encompasses the entire psyche, and symbolic communication entails
unifying entire cognitive activities. The self-aspect, for instance, is an integrative idea that is
usually conveyed figuratively.

Interactive drawing therapy and the application of metaphors in the therapy process

Metaphor has their own set of process interventions in interactive drawing therapy (IDT). The
therapist can do this, for instance, by placing the sketched sheet out at a range from the child
for them to see it more objectively and enable the effect of the artwork to 'speak back' to them.
By putting the metaphor into a pictorial framework, the therapist can assist the client in
drawing out the narrative behind it. This is accomplished by navigating around a 'triangle' of
phrases, visual pictures, and emotions, as taught by IDT. As the customer adds more detail, the
metaphor's ramifications become more apparent, and another emerges when one issue is
addressed. As the metaphor's graphically realized narrative unfolds, it discloses more of the
person to themselves. Putting this down on paper allows one to mirror the drawing and make
therapeutically beneficial changes. Clients typically feel more comfortable talking in pictorial
metaphors than in actual language, which can be re-traumatizing.

Additionally, in a metaphorical sense, security can be imparted to a drawing. A giant airbag

might be sketched around a drawing of a car out of command, for instance. Once engaging with
metaphor, such client-initiated replies appear reasonably acceptable for the child, even though
they are unthinkable. Pictorial metaphor can help one recognize components of their psyche,
and that journey of integrative vision can lead to transformation. Children can access
knowledgeable and creative elements, such as the archetypal 'hero,' by using metaphor.
Metaphors frequently indicate tension during the initial half of a child's therapeutic session,
while they frequently symbolize partnership in the later part.

As a result, the connection between metaphor and the therapeutic session is recognized as
tight and potent in IDT's theoretical justification and medical practice. Nevertheless, the
systematic presentation and thoughtful evaluation of the numerous assertions highlighted in
IDT's development are severely limited.

In conclusion, Clients, especially youngsters, can use drawings and metaphors to investigate
their outside world and learn about their adaptive abilities and expertise. Clients can express
complicated information and ideas that would otherwise be difficult owing to a poor vocabulary
by using metaphors and drawings. Clients can display their inner perception with the therapist
in the therapy session's outer world via the actual synthesis of artistic expressions. Some
starting points or drawing and metaphor encounters are provided in this analysis for the
therapist intrigued in using Jungian approach expression as a technique in psychotherapy with
clients. Jung provided a psychodynamic model to psychotherapy centered on unconscious
activities' reliance on psychological well-being, metaphorical analyses, and indirect ways of
psychological evaluation. Jung thought that analogies, connections to the spirit realm, society,
mythology, and theology could help him understand the intricacies of the psyche.