One of the Projective Drawing Strategies developed by Dr Crenshaw is The Magic Key (Crenshaw, 2004, Crenshaw & Mordock, 2005).

The therapist gives the following instructions to the child:

Imagine that you have been given a magic key that opens one room in a huge castle. There are four floors in the castle and since the castle is huge there are many rooms on each floor, but your magic key only opens one of the many, many rooms in the castle. So pretend you go from room to room, and from floor to floor, trying your magic key in each door until you finally come to the door that your key opens. You turn the key and the lock opens. Because this is a magic key that only opens this door, what you see is the one thing that has always been missing from your life—the one thing you always believed would make you happy.  Pretend that you are looking into the room. What is it that you see? What is that one thing that has been missing that you always believed would make you happy? When you have a clear picture, please draw it as best you can.

Not surprising in this highly consumer oriented culture, is that children often draw a big screen or flat panel TV. Some children, however, draw the missing or deceased parent, a safe home they never experienced, or a family where the parents don’t argue so often. They draw a home they always longed for, one which is sadly missing in their lives. This projective drawing strategy can be very useful with children whose lives are replete with loss. Many severely aggressive children have suffered profound, multiple losses. When we dare to see what there is to see, when we are receptive to hear what there is to be heard, underneath the gorilla suit (aggressive acting-out) we will often findnot simply a “bad kid” but a vulnerable, in many cases, traumatized child (Crenshaw & Hardy, in press).

© Copyright 2004 by David A. Crenshaw, Ph.D.  All rights reserved.

Crenshaw, D. A. (2004). Engaging resistant children in therapy: Projective drawing and storytelling strategies, in The Child and Family Therapy Guidebook Series, Volume One, J. B. Mordock, (Ed.). Rhinebeck: NY: Rhinebeck Child and Family Center Publications.

Crenshaw, D. A. & J.B. Mordock (2005). Handbook of play therapy with aggressive children. New York: Jason Aronson (An imprint of Rowland & Littlefield Publishing Co).

Crenshaw, D. A. & Hardy. K. V. (in press). Fawns in gorilla suits: Understanding and treating the aggression and violence of traumatized children in child welfare. In N. W. Boyd (Ed.), Helping traumatized children and youth in child welfare: Perspectives of mental health and children’s services practitioners. New York: Guildford Press.