Use of art in the forensic psychiatric death investigation.

There is an extensive body of literature dealing with the use of art in the evaluation and therapy of psychiatric patients. In this case study, principles drawn from art therapy and Jung's writings on mandalas were used to draw a personality profile and to make a tentative diagnosis in a 36-year-old white man who had committed suicide in Mobile, Alabama. It is felt by the authors that art analysis can be a valuable tool in forensic psychiatry.