AbstractsLanguage, Literature & Linguistics

Fairy tales, a means of evidencing adolescent conflicts : a pilot study

by Karen M Clark




Institution: Drexel University
Department:
Degree: MA
Year: 1977
Keywords: Art Therapy
Record ID: 1503537
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/1860/2708


Abstract

Fairy tales are believed to be of therapeutic benefit in that they provide fantasy vehicles for the expression and resolution of intrapsychic concerns.It was hypothesized that fairy tales read to adolescents who were requested to then draw the scene that most impressed them would reveal the presence of intrapsychicconflict and/or its resolution.Two populations of adolescent girls (8 girls in all) were read "Little Red Riding Hood", "Snow White11, and "Hansel and Gretel" two times within a four month period. The drawings were evaluated as to the manifest content of the items represented within them and were compared to see if any similarities or differences were apparent in the representation of major characters and objects from the stories.Results indicated that definable areas of conflict were seen in the fairy tale drawings of each of these adolescents and were traceable to objects and themes contained in the fairy tales. Group conflictual phenomena was evident as well as individual.