The psychopathology of everyday art: a quantitative Study - World ...

of form 154 . The formal elements were inseparable from the content issues where they
were described emotively; for example, sombre colour, and by negative characteristics,
which tended to favour content issues and overlap between groups. It could be argued
that in many cases the intentions of the formal analysis were not so rigid, but if evidence
which is said to be objective is presented to support the subjective conclusions of the
therapist or researcher, then it is necessary that it be differentiated from those opinions.
The formal analysis reflects the confusion of the content analysis, in that each study is
individualistic, presenting different information for each subject and there are few
associations within types of patient and little systematic description of the output of the
patient.
Conclusion for formal and content analysis
Three points arise from this discussion of case and series studies:
(1) Increased output may be associated with withdrawal of drugs and different mood
states as much as with therapy; and
(2) If the immediate situation of the patient is, as suggested by the content analysis, the
overriding element in the pictures, and these associations are too subjective and individual
to be consistent within patients, then holding the content constant should emphasise the
characteristics of artistic style. This would help to test whether the apparent diversity
of pictorial characterises in depression was due to environmental circumstances or some
other factor;
154 Table 4, studies 6 and 12.
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