Cartoons and Art Therapy

Researchers determined that published cartoons, with or without words or captions can be used in counseling. Cartoons can serve as stimulus to summarize the nature of people and their existence. Cartoons can be used as an intervention within the counseling session to encourage discussions.Published cartoons can be shared to illustrate particular concerns and help the client to recognize the problem and its implications. Thus, clients become involved in the counseling process.

Jung drew, painted and sculptured representations of dreams and fantasy experiences. He encouraged his patients to make visual images of their own inner experiences and fears. The use of images in counseling is not limited to therapists trained in Jungian psychology. Counselors provide clients with opportunities to create images to facilitate the release of emotional or traumatic experiences. Failing to do that, these feelings might be repressed.

We often talk about therapy through art, but there is also a cartoon therapy, because cartoons are images and images are actions. Some therapists usually ask their patients to sketch their feelings and fears. This way, sketches help clarify the situation and illustrate complex problems and relationships.

By graphically representing the issues, all parts of the puzzle are revealed at once. Pictures drawn by counselors in sessions can help in understanding and objectifying counseling issues, increasing openness to oneself. After the drawing is ready, the counselor and client look at it together. The clients/patients prompt themselves in the center of the stories and usually see them as victims of circumstance. Now, after a close examination, the patients are ready to take responsibility for their choices, actions and consequences.

People buy cartoons to be cheerful and happy. Everybody can find on Cartoon Bank many cartoons from The New Yorker editions, prints and covers available for sale. This way, people have access to this cartoon pictures therapy that they need to make their lives and the one of their friends and family more interesting.