The SSCA Method course
Inside the course
From the research workshop of pictorial expression psychology: what you watch, practice and keep.
The course is for
- teachers,
- psychologists,
- mental health professionals,
- university and college students,
- helping professionals,
- art therapists
who want to understand children’s drawings, adults’ projective drawings, and the pictures people create in art therapy and in other settings.
Looking for the lecture-by-lecture syllabus? Open the table of contents »
What you will actually watch
Besides scribbles, the course covers the other main areas of picture interpretation. It teaches the Seven-Step Configuration Analysis (SSCA), and then scribbles, tree drawings, family, kindergarten and school drawings, the psychology of color, rapid reading of pictures, counseling with drawings, couple relationship drawings and art therapy techniques.
The scenes in the films and the original pictures come from the Institute’s research archive. They include:
- scribble tests, tree drawings, human figure drawings and other tasks filmed up close in original test sessions: you follow every movement, every pause and every change of psychomotor tempo from the first second to the last;
- a demonstration of Lundholm’s classic experiment on the affective meaning of the line;
- color paintings from an art therapy session that show the healthy self and the pathological self;
- a psychological analysis of the color choices of painters whose paintings were documented by chance;
- a family therapy case study with the colored four-tree test (Stora), in which the tree drawings of a child, the mother and the father, who struggles with alcohol, reveal the pathology the family kept hidden;
- the “tree in a storm” crisis diagnostic test, shown through patients’ tree paintings;
- family drawings, kindergarten drawings and school drawings by healthy children and children with problems, filmed while they draw, with explanations;
- projective mother-and-child drawings by mothers living in a mothers’ home;
- the animal drawing test of a police officer, and what it shows about his fit for that career;
- authentic life-space tests from a children’s home that reveal attachment problems and experiences of separation;
- a series of life-space tests by people living with addiction and homelessness: each map shows at once what matters most to the person, what led to the present situation, and which way out is taking shape;
- the unusual scribbles and the house-tree-person test of a patient with schizophrenia, which speak clearly about the patient’s experience;
- a complete life story analyzed with the Sixty-Second Drawing Test (SSDT);
- couple relationship diagnostics with the Sixty-Second Drawing Test, using real couples;
- enlarged details of the drawing tests of patients with borderline, manic-depressive and paranoid conditions, analyzed in detail by Prof. Vass;
- and literature that is hard to find elsewhere, from the professor’s own archive: for the films he looked up each source, opened it and pointed to the key passage.
The topics in detail:
Topic 1
Anatomy of the scribble and the line
- The original slow-motion video of the Meurisse scribble test that illustrates the model reactions described in the professor’s handbook;
- spontaneous scribbles by adults, made in chance situations, enlarged and chosen from a large collection;
- scribble exercises that teach the motor empathy method (Hárdi), with enlarged examples, explanations and solutions;
- a collection of geometric and organic spontaneous scribbles: the professor shows the small but essential differences that are hard to find otherwise;
- film clips and experiments that show synesthesia and intermodal perception;
- abstract representations of colors in nonfigurative scribbles, with their properties analyzed in detail;
- the anatomy of the line through examples: orientation, spatial frequency, amplitude and other line properties;
- the sad, calm, angry and excited line and several other line types, with enlarged examples;
- a comparative collection of scribbles that show how people handle aggression;
- an exercise in dissecting the anatomy of the line, in which you interpret “speaking lines”, with solution and explanation;
- original filmed Meurisse, Grätz and Kutash-Gehl scribbles with psychological analysis;
- scribble tests of adult patients with case history and explanations;
- an inventory of the properties of healthy and neurotic scribbles;
- a list of the conflict indicators in neurotic scribbles;
- a symptom list for the process analysis of pathological scribbles, including verbal and nonverbal behavioral indicators and the diagnostic analysis of the association process.
Topic 2
Color diagnostics
- The creation process of colored art therapy paintings, with analysis and the participants’ own first-hand accounts;
- built-in tasks that teach the archetypal symbolism of the most frequent colors, and demonstrations that help you separate archetypal color meanings from cultural ones;
- colored drawings that demonstrate the method of individual color keys;
- a concrete color-key inventory with the color keys of real people;
- the color scale that the professor’s research found best suited to the psychological study of color;
- the evaluation criteria of the color-key test, in more detail than even the live courses had time for;
- an inventory of the psychological meanings of the most important colors, unpublished elsewhere, based on the literature and the professor’s own large-scale study;
- a frequency analysis of color associations;
- an explanation of the stimulation syndrome and the achromatic color syndrome.
Topic 3
Traditional and new tree drawing tests
- You watch the drawing process of tree drawings live; the book shows them as static photographs;
- exercises on the diagnostic analysis of the branch structure of tree drawings;
- a descriptive checklist and global dimensions of interpretation that work especially well for tree drawings;
- holistic tree drawing interpretation exercises with solutions and explanations;
- how to use the ARTIES program for the projective interpretation of tree drawings;
- the instructions of the classic and the modern tree drawing tests, compared side by side.
Topic 4
Family drawings, kindergarten drawings, school drawings
- Original examples from the classic literature on family drawings: Hulse, Corman, Machover;
- the drawing process of healthy children and children with problems, on film;
- fast, dynamic tasks: family drawings appear one after another, and you look for indicators of conflict and of normality;
- case histories and perception exercises with the kinetic family drawings of healthy children and children with behavioral disorders;
- kinetic kindergarten and school drawings for recognizing indicators of normality and of pathology;
- exercises that teach you to tell encapsulation from compartmentalization;
- case analyses of kinetic hospital drawings and projective mother-and-child drawings;
- mother-and-child drawings by mothers in a mothers’ home, compared with those of a control group;
- examples for the global interpretation of bird’s nest drawings (symbolic family drawings).
Topic 5
Counseling, coaching, therapy
- Quick exercises for the rapid-reading technique of picture interpretation that Prof. Vass developed, with exact, detailed solutions;
- an overview map of the rapid-reading technique, as a mind map;
- a collection of drawing tests for counseling sessions, with suggestions for their use;
- example drawings that show why drawing tests resist faking, whether someone exaggerates or hides a problem;
- real examples of the new scribble test that Prof. Vass developed, with the drawing process: of all scribble tests, this one speaks most about the person who draws, it is the most personal and the best tailored;
- colored examples of the life-path test, one of the most successful recent tests, which looks into the past and the “future” more deeply than is usual even in art therapy;
- colored drawings by healthy and ill people for every essential feature of the life-path test.
Topic 6
Couple relationship diagnostics
- The core problem of a current relationship, shown and analyzed in detail with the Sixty-Second Drawing Test in real couples;
- a checklist that tells you which of Lee’s love styles drives a person’s decisions, with detailed explanations and research data;
- an excerpt, in checklist form, from a questionnaire unpublished elsewhere, built on Sternberg’s scientific model, that helps you determine the type of a relationship and its likely future;
- a special mobile application for an objective assessment of the state of a relationship, and how to reach it;
- workshop secrets of interpreting couple drawings, which show honest, unconscious feelings about the relationship;
- the defining qualities of a relationship, shown in colored couple drawings that the professor selected from a large collection;
- the thorough analysis of nonexistent animal drawing tests: in a broken relationship and in couples with low, medium and high compatibility;
- a self-assessment checklist for the symptoms Gottman calls “the four horsemen of the apocalypse”, worth monitoring in every relationship, always;
- the classic “love map” method for couples, illustrated with a concrete example;
- visual types of happiness, shown through the analysis of happiness paintings;
- the lessons that people typically recognize only at the very end of life: “the five regrets”.
Topic 7
Art therapy
- Paintings made in an art therapy session that show the healthy self and the pathological self;
- clay sculptures that show the organization of the personality in space (more exactly, its subjective representation);
- colored pastel paintings by the participants of an art therapy workshop, in which they show where the self is located within the body;
- the participants’ reports and self-interpretations, while you follow the creation of the paintings up close;
- the drawing process of resource paintings, with psychological interpretation;
- the soul of the home: pastel paintings that show the positive and negative feelings and moods people unconsciously condense in the space of their home;
- the emotional map of the home, with real examples, the drawing process and psychological analysis (a free guide on this topic: download it here);
- enlarged details of the drawing tests of neurotic and psychotic patients, analyzed in detail by the professor.
Why these materials exist
The Institute’s goal is to advance the research field of pictorial expression psychology and to communicate science with integrity.
The science of picture interpretation has changed greatly in recent decades: the research of Prof. Dr. Zoltán Vass produced a new scientific paradigm, the psychology of pictorial expression.
Many institutions still work with methods built on mid-twentieth-century science. The Institute brings the modern, scientific approach in their place.
The course also gives you the knowledge for sound psychodiagnostic conclusions, beyond counseling. To read more:
Vass, Z. (2012). A psychological interpretation of drawings and paintings. The SSCA method: A systems analysis approach. Budapest: Alexandra.
What does enrollment include?
Enrollment gives you access to all the course materials: every topic and every chapter. After the two semesters, the course material stays yours for good.
Submitted reviews
Reviews translated from Hungarian.
Addictive :)
Surprisingly good, exciting, humorous, to the point, clear….
I am very glad that I have found the most authentic picture interpretation course!
The uploaded videos, tasks and the detailed materials with cited sources help a lot. I was especially pleased with the case studies . It is practical, so it is easier to understand. Thank you for letting me take part in the training!
I have only managed to watch the first few videos so far, but I find it practical that they can be paused, rewatched, and repeated as often as you like.
I am grateful that I can learn the essentials in short videos. This is a great help, thank you!
The lecture is sensational! I especially like the division into small chapters and the many practical examples
Congratulations on developing this form of training, which requires enormous work and professional knowledge. The videos work well; they can be stopped and rewatched several times.
Bonus: we help you along the way
As a student of the Institute you can bring your professional questions to us whenever they come up, during the course and after you finish it: by email or at a personal office hour. Live online consultations in small groups are part of the course as well.
We work this way because steady support keeps your professional growth moving.
Questions before you enroll
I studied picture interpretation elsewhere. Is it worth enrolling?
Yes. Everyone at the Institute learns something new, whatever they already know. The course teaches the new approach and the new methods that Prof. Dr. Zoltán Vass developed with his research group in international collaboration, from a very large body of literature, on original insights and with artificial intelligence methods. The course covers each topic in more depth than any other format, the professor’s live courses included.
I studied with the professor before. Should I enroll?
If you completed The SSCA Method online course, you already have these materials. After any other course with the professor, live or online, you gain new material here: this course is broader, more current and covers more topics.
Can I take an exam?
Yes. The course ends with an online exam. The pass mark is 60%. You can attempt the exam three times, and after that an oral retake with the professor is available. For the final paper you write a case study of 5–10 pages. In our previous programs the exam pass rate was 95–97%. When you complete the course, you receive a certificate.
How long is the course?
Two semesters. A new chapter opens every week, you study the videos at your own pace, and you meet your small group at the live online consultations. After the two semesters, the course material stays yours for good.
Do I need textbooks?
The course is complete in itself: everything you need for the exam is in the videos. The Institute recommends the literature as further reading. For English readers the main source is Vass, Z. (2012). A psychological interpretation of drawings and paintings. The SSCA method: A systems analysis approach. Budapest: Alexandra.
How do I reach the Institute?
Write to support@sscamethod.com. Juli and the team answer every question.
Juli
Institute of Projective Drawings
Take the next step
Meet the method in the free webinar, or start the course and work through every topic above.