The depiction of loss: Uses of clients' drawings in bereavement counseling

Clients' drawings can serve four basic junctions in bereavement counseling. They may provide a channel for cathartic release of grief, a focus for clients' reflections on the dimensions of their losses, a means of identifying unexpressed conflicts associated with the losses, and possibly a source of information with diagnostic value. The potential benefits and limitations of bereavement-art therapy are surveyed and the suggestion made that these techniques could well have a place in the repertoire of skills of the eclectic bereavement counselor.