Psychosomatic Medicine 11:282-292 (1949)
© 1949 American Psychosomatic Society

Human Figure Drawing of Patients with Arterial Hypertension, Peptic Ulcer, and Bronchial Asthma

¹ Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry of the Long Island College of Medicine and the Kings County Hospital

In this study, the human figure drawing was used as a projective method in an attempt to further delineate characteristic personality traits and conflict problems of 32 patients with arterial hypertension, peptic ulcer, and bronchial asthma.

Drawings were obtained from ten patients each of the hypertensive, asthmatic, and peptic ulcer groups. The remaining two presented combined syndromes, one with hypertension and bronchial asthma and the other with hypertension and peptic ulcer. In addition, all but three of these patents were interviewed extensively.

The drawings were interpreted in accordance with certain formulations proposed by Machover which have been verified by extensive psychiatric clinical studies.

In spite of the small number of patients in each group, there was a much greater than chance recurrence of certain drawing features. The interpretation of personality based on the Machover drawing test, although tentative, is in close agreement with the observations of other workers who studied patients with similar psychosomatic problems.

Some of the psychopathologic features seen in the drawings occurred in all three disorders to about the same extent. This was especially true of graphically evidenced disturbances in psychosexual organization and of drawing elements indicative of wariness and suspiciousness of the environment.

Other features, such as those indicative of obsessive-compulsive controls and expressions of resentment and hostility, were expressed in characteristic fashion within each group.

Many of the drawing features expressed by the hypertensive group emphasized inner contradictions and obvious inconsistencies in the personality organization. Although the patients tended to depict themselves as weakened, depleted, inadequate individuals, a need for personal assertiveness was often prominent in the drawings. Marked social withdrawal was observed in the productions of the same patients who showed exaggerated attempts to contact the environment.

The peptic ulcer patients projected an image of themselves as inflated, personally adequate, over-secure individuals. However, these large, adequate figures frequently were seen standing receptively with open mouths, as if ready to be fed. This group also frequently attempted to hide their defects behind social facades.

The productions of the asthmatic patients tended to be less homogeneous. However, the mouth was more frequently a problem area in the drawings and the total configuration of the productions was most immature.

We believe that the Machover human figure drawing test is a projective method particularly well suited to psychosomatic studies and it is hoped that this report will encourage further investigation of the use of the drawing test as a tool in both research and therapy in the field of medical psychiatry.

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