Using Both Sides of the Brain : Experiences that Integrate Art and Talk Therapy Through Scribble Drawings

Neuroscience researchers identify a cerebral cortex with two functioning hemispheres: a left hemisphere associated with language and speech and a right hemisphere associated with visual-motor activities. Additionally, neuroscientists argue that contemporary lifestyles favor the verbal, logical left brain and often ignore the truths that present in the right brain. Psychotherapy techniques range in their use of left-brain verbal discourse and right-brain nonverbal discourse. In a case study, the author describes experiences integrating both verbal and nonverbal therapy with a client with severe anxiety and depression. Nonverbal therapy involved annotated scribble drawings. Images in the drawings became the stimuli for verbal discourse with the client. Other client responses to the annotated scribble drawings are described.