Painting Inner Images:
Reconnecting with the Inner Child

Presented by Marion Anderson, Ph.D.

The call from our inner child often comes to remind us that our adult self has become too one-sided, too restrictive or too willfully progressive and is in danger of being severed from the roots of our being.
-Jacqueline Wright, Jungian Analyst

Developing a relationship to the psychological energy one’s inner child can bring about dramatic changes, as evidenced in the pursuit of new ideas, interests or creative work.  Through the process of painting a series of images drawn from a Grimm’s fairy tale, we will focus on the story of a child, who was forced to grow up prematurely, and the figure of the witch, who prevented the child from expressing feelings which were critical for  her psychological development. Expressing these images through painting, observing our associations and feeling reaction to the characters in the fairy tale is a lived experience of working with the personal unconscious, something Jung valued greatly in the process of becoming a therapist. This workshop is intended for adults only, and no previous experience with painting is needed.

Learning objectives:

• Describe how an expressive art such as painting can help patients express internal conflicts
• Define what is meant by the shadow, and how to identify it as it manifests in the images that emerge through the painting process
• Give an example of how painting symbols from the unconscious can be helpful to a patient with depression
• Give an example of how painting symbols from the unconscious can be helpful to a patient with anxiety
• Describe how painting can be helpful to patients going through a major life transition
• Describe how utilizing a non-verbal expressive art such as painting can be helpful for patients who dissociate
• Describe how utilizing a non-verbal expressive art such as painting can be helpful for patients who somatize
• Describe how to help patients integrate their art experience through interpretation, amplification, and reflection

Marion Anderson, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist in private practice in   Santa Monica. She is a certified Sandplay therapist and teacher who has lectured nationally and internationally. She has published articles in the Journal of Sandplay therapy, served as the  co-coordinator of the Sandplay community of Los Angeles group, and gives workshops on   painting inner images at the Jung Institute. She is also faculty at the Reiss-Davis Institute.