The purpose of this study is, first, to analyze peculiar psychological, psychopathological
meanings or characteristics presented on the drawings by schizoids or patients suffering
schizophrenia, then to prove whether some objective and qualitative evaluation of the analysis is actually applicable to clinical practices.
Subjects for the study are 500 schizophrenic patients from a closed and a daytime wards
of ○○hospital in Kyungnam province and from a national mental hospital where the
patients are participating in art therapy program. Diagnosed on 300 free drawings, but not
on those of collages, portraits, and animal families, they are divided into three different
groups according to the degree of their sickness, that is, to light, medium or severe symptoms.
Frequency test in 9 areas and its graphic presentation are sought in order to gasp the
characteristics of schizophrenic patients' usage of composition and color, and χ²
(chi-square) test is employed to analyze and compare the difference in composition and color usage of the three different groups.
The results obtained from the study are as follows.
First, static composition appears frequent as a common characteristic presented in the three groups' composition and color usage. The severer the patients' symptoms are, the more frequently simple horizontal composition appear, while the more lightened or alleviated the symptoms become, the more complex vertico-horizontal compositions increase.
Second, as for the color usage as a whole the analysis shows a similar ratio of use in primary and neutral colors, though there appears a slightly more use of neutral colors. But the more alleviated the schizophrenic symptoms become, the stiffer the ratio becomes and the less colors they use in their drawings, whereas the more color variety appears when the patients show the less and lightened symptoms.
Third, the center area scores high when considered is which part of the drawing is emphasized, and as characteristics of the emphasis there show a tendency of many inanimate or lifeless objects.
Fourth, as for the characteristics of harmony in general composition and form in the patients' drawings, the study shows there is a high frequency of harmony as a whole, while the severer the patients' symptoms are the more disharmony their drawings show.
Key words : Schizophrenia, Color, Picture composition