"Non-existent animal" is one of the most famous methods of psychological diagnostics. It is used by specialists in the field of clinical psychology and psychiatry, but in a simplified form anyone can do it.
"Non-existent animal" is a projective drawing test. It is aimed at diagnosing the emotional state of a person, whether he has aggression, anxiety, fears, or his attitude to his life in general. It is sometimes used to diagnose mental illness. For example, drawings of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia often contain many monotonous, stereotyped, and repetitive details. Their animals mostly do not have any organs and parts of the body that are important for normal vital activity, and relative to the leaf they are very small (occupy less than 1/3). For example, here is a fairly typical drawing of a patient with schizophrenia:
For the sake of their own interest and curiosity, the method "non-existent animal" can be carried out by anyone on himself and on those close to him. Very often, when interpreting the details of a drawing, a person understands what was previously in the area of his unconscious. Tests like these help you to listen to yourself and realize some of the points that prevent you from living happily.
Necessary materials
To conduct the test, you will need the most minimal set of materials - A4 format and a simple pencil. You can add an eraser to this set, but then it is advisable to follow all the corrections of the painter. In the conditions of clinical diagnosis, you will also need a form for a psychologist so that he records all the moments of the subject's behavior and his answers to additional questions.
Please note that it is advisable to choose a medium soft pencil. A pencil that is too soft will crumble and make the drawing dirty, and a hard pencil will scratch the paper if you press hard on it. A pencil of medium softness (H or HB) will transmit both the pressure and the thickness of the lines in the drawing, which is very informative for diagnostics.
The flow of material also has some importance. It is advisable to put a sheet of paper in front of the person passing the test (hereinafter referred to as the test subject), diagonally, so that he himself chooses how to position his animal - horizontally or vertically.
Instructions
The submission of a piece of paper and a pencil should be accompanied by the following instruction: “Draw, please, an animal that does not exist in nature, ie. such that no one has invented before you. If the subject begins to complain about the lack of drawing ability, it should be told that the creativity and quality of the drawing do not matter at all.
Sometimes a person who paints may get stupid and sit in front of a blank piece of paper. In this case, you can advise him to combine several existing animals into one drawing. But, if time is not running out, it is better to let the subject form an idea himself. If a person who passes this test begins to ask how and what is best for him to draw, you need to answer that any drawing will be correct. In no case should you give advice and lead a person to any thoughts!
Additional questions
When the drawing is completed, you should conduct a conversation with the subject about the resulting creature. First of all, you need to ask the name, age and habitat of the animal. Next - ask what he eats, whether he has friends and enemies, how he defends himself, whether he attacks other creatures first, whether he is one of his kind, what he likes to do in his free time and how he spends his leisure time. During the conversation, you can ask your own questions, clarifying the story. At the end of the diagnosis, the subject should be asked to name the three main desires and fears of the animal he painted. All answers are recorded by a psychologist on a form.
Interpretation of results
At the very beginning of the interpretation, one should simply take a drawing of an animal and look at it with a fresh eye. What is the overall impression it makes? Aggressive, fearful, or maybe radiant and cheerful? The first impression of the drawing is very indicative, most often it coincides with the first impression of the person who invented this animal. If the sheet is located horizontally, this may indicate openness, curiosity, the desire to learn the world around. The vertical arrangement speaks of concentration on a certain type of activity and the desire to achieve perfection in it.
We pay attention to the most general organizational issues. How hard did the subject press on the pencil? Weak pressure and pale lines can indicate a person's passivity, psychological or physical fatigue, as well as a lack of motivation to take the test. Strong pressure indicates the presence of aggression, impulsivity and tension. If the pressure is so strong that the pencil breaks or tears the paper, then the possibility of a pathological level of aggressiveness in the subject should be checked using other tests.
We look closely at the nature of the drawing. If the details are drawn with a clear, solid line, we can talk about the subject's confidence in his own strengths and deeds. If the lines are formed by strokes, then we can conclude that a person has an increased level of anxiety. Lines that distort the normal shape of body parts may indicate the presence of organic brain damage or mental illness. But here, again, one should not jump to conclusions. It is necessary to discuss the details with the subject, perhaps they were distorted on purpose, as a creative idea.
We look at the size of the animal itself. The norm is a medium-sized animal, located approximately in the middle of the leaf in the vertical and horizontal planes. If the animal is too large (occupies more than 2/3 of a leaf), this may indicate the presence of a stressful state of a person, or about overestimated self-esteem. A small animal is sometimes drawn by people with depression or very low self-esteem.
Next, we move on to the individual details in the figure. Large, rounded eyes with bold outlines are a demonstration of anxiety and fear. If the subject draws eyelashes, carefully draws the iris and pupils, then this may indicate a tendency to demonstrativeness and hysteria. The ears of an animal show its interest in communication. If the animal does not have ears, the person does not want to come into contact with other people, or by his nature he is too closed. The same is with the mouth - if the animal does not have this important component of the body, then we can talk about the lack of desire for communication.
Any sharp details in the drawing (thorns, horns, fangs, needles) indicate a high level of aggression. Some researchers argue that upward-directed thorns are a manifestation of a negative attitude towards superiors and power, and their downward orientation indicates a negative attitude towards subordinates, children or younger ones. Decorations on animals (feathers, wings, tattoos) are mostly painted by creative and demonstrative people.
The description of the animal's lifestyle largely reflects the attitude towards life of the subject himself. The age of an animal is the psychological age of the artist. If the animal lives in some inaccessible and distant places (in the desert, jungle), then the person by nature is prone to isolation and introversion. If an animal feeds on its own kind, has many enemies and attacks other animals itself, then additional examinations of the level of aggressiveness of the subject are needed. The desires and fears of the animal, as a rule, coincide with the desires and fears of the subject in real life.
Nevertheless, only a specialist can draw any reasonable conclusions and make diagnoses. In addition, the "non-existent animal" technique usually cannot be performed in isolation from other tests, it must be interpreted based on reliable clinical material and conversation with the patient. Sometimes the details of the drawing, which statistically reliably reflect one character trait, in one person can reflect something completely different. After all, everyone has their own life experience, and we can convey our internal psychological state in different ways.
