LAHORE – Dr Asim Amjad glances at a paper with what seems like a child’s drawing on it, done in black crayon, with round shapes drawn on it. But then the entire drawing is covered with jagged lines drawn up and down as if the artist has trashed the painting. In fact, he has not. This is a painting done by a mentally retarded patient from Fountain House, and it is about to be hung up in an exhibition very soon. Anyone looking at the painting may think it is ridiculous, especially if they see it out of context. But Dr Asim can see a lot in it.
“See these shapes?” he asks, tracing his finger on the circles that have been drawn without any connection it seems. “These are typical of patients who have mental retardation (MR). Call it their instinct or whatever but circles are common – in fact very common – among MR patients. And look at this drastic colouring that he has done. It shows so much more!” His eyes are pensive as he tries to work out what it is the patient is about in one glance. But one glance is never enough.
It’s not painting, it is a language:
To anyone else this can be a badly drawn puppy, which coloured in an appalling black from head to toe, but Dr Asim sees aggression and restlessness in it. “This is not a painting,” he says. “It is a language. A language which I have to decipher in order to understand what the patient is saying.” Dr Asim Amjad, portrays the look of a ‘mad scientist’. He is an outwardly disheveled man, who appears to have lost himself in his work, dedicating days at end for his clients who suffer from various mental disorders.
But what accentuates his character especially as a practicing art therapist, are his eyes, which show softness, empathy and understanding of what can ail another mentally. A diploma holder for fine arts, along with an MSc degree in Psychology, he is associate member of International Expressive Art Therapy (California), member of the Pakistan National Council for Arts (PNCA), and the Artist Association of Punjab.
Fitting the jigsaw of art and psychology:
And the more he read art and psychology together, the more he began to understand that the jigsaw would fit if he merged them together – much like Socrates had done back in the Greek Civilization. But rather than superficially scanning these art pieces, he studies them with great interest and reaches a conclusion, but the study of the patient is not limited to his drawings, only. Dr Asim says that the patient will be interviewed in the beginning about his history and will pass certain clinical psychology tests, and assessments.
Only later will he enter the realm of art therapy, where he or she will make paintings about three times a week, and then indulge in drama therapy the other three days. Drama therapy too, much like the academia of the ancient Greeks, explores characters and aims to bring catharsis after going through a tedious and emotional process of creating a character. The patients also do role playing, something that has been explored by other psychologists too. It was in the 17th Century that J.L Moreno came up with the concept of ‘psycho drama’, which incorporates these elements in order to treat patients. But Dr Asim has gone up further, by introducing 24 more techniques invented by him.
The question, ‘Who am I’?
“Art asks the artist one basic question: it asks ‘who am I?’ This is the very question that a patient must ask himself, and in self discovery, many things are straightened out too. Of course not all patients can do this, some have a weaker caliber and in that case, a psychologist acts as that patient’s ego, helping him accept him or herself.” At present Fountainhouse has 200 males, and 100 females who are residents but there are about 50 day members too who come to attend these courses, six days a week. Most of these patients suffer from psychosis. “In Pakistan there is a trend of not bringing the suffering person to the doctor during his or her period of neurosis,” he says bitterly.
“When the patient begins to manifest symptoms of psychosis is when relatives realize that something is wrong. And each patient we receive is different so we must treat him or her with different capabilities.” The paintings must also be read with great depth. “In the end, one must understand, that whether the patient uses colours or not, the painting is all about strokes, their pressure, we must ask ourselves on studying a painting, are the lines broken, or continuous, are they solid harsh and powerful or weak and frail? We must study the forms and applications of the painting. All in all, the psychologist must negate him or herself in order to empathize and identify with the patient.”
