JEDDAH: If your child is having emotional or psychological problems, you can consult a graphologist to analyze his scribbles and maybe figure out what is wrong. But what is a graphologist? In some cases, a graphologist is also a psychologist, because it is believed that graphology — handwriting analysis — provides insight into personality, mental state, and nervous system health.
“Graphology is used as an aid to draw a behavioral profile and gain insight into mental and emotional states of the writer,” said marital and family counselor and graphologist Dr. Sami Al-Ansari. “It is useful in understanding morality, hidden talents and psychological problems,” he added.
Al-Ansari explained that graphology deals with the human nervous system. He said that when a person is writing, he only uses his hand as a means of writing. “The muscular movements involved in writing are controlled by the central nervous system. We write and use our brains to release everything within. Handwriting reveals the essentials of personality and character,” he said.
According to Wikipedia.com, Prospero Aldorisio’s “1611 manuscript” was probably the first book to describe how to analyze handwriting. The major contender is Camilo Baldi’s manuscript which was unofficially published in 1622. After World War I, interest in graphology continued to spread in Europe as well as the United States. Today, there are still those who support handwriting analysis worldwide while others maintain that graphology has little or no validity.
In Saudi Arabia, some scholars argue with Al-Ansari that such sciences are not permitted in Islam. “Some Saudi scholars disapprove of sciences such as graphology, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Reiki,” said Al-Ansari. “Why should we reject sciences we receive from the West? Why not learn from them what is suitable to our environment, culture, principles and religion? I don’t think it is wrong to do that,” he added. (NLP is understanding how people organize their thinking, feeling, language and behavior to produce the results they do. Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing.)
It is one thing to be curious to learn graphology and apply it, and it is another to claim that it is possible to predict the unknown. “Analyzing a person’s handwriting doesn’t tell if a woman is pregnant or not. It doesn’t tell if the woman is a virgin or not. And it does not tell the gender of the writer. It isn’t true,” said Al-Ansari.
With a doctorate in psychology and an extensive background in training, graphology and NLP, Al-Ansari designed a children’s behavior modification program for the Jeddah-based marital and family counseling center Elaf. Through examining handwriting and drawing movements, he evaluates the pattern, form, movement etc. in order to tell whether the child is nervous, hyper, moody, tense, if he has fears or phobias or any other problems. “Once we’ve identified the problem, we teach the child through writing and drawing how to release his stress or nervousness,” said Al-Ansari.
Despite the successful results of applying graphology in different areas of life, graphology remains controversial. In February 2005, the BBC reported that graphologists were invited by the press to analyze the doodles on a sheet of paper; the scribbles were said to have been done by former Prime Minister Tony Blair during a meeting at the World Economic Forum. After many contradictory analyses, it was revealed that the handwriting actually belonged to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. “It left a bigger question mark hanging over the already controversial practice of graphology,” reported the article.
On the other hand, a founder member of The British Institute of Graphologists, Erik Rees, said that graphology should not be used in isolation, but with other techniques that can give an accurate insight into someone’s true character. “A skilled graphologist can identify a wide variety of character traits, including creativity, nervousness, sincerity, ambition, lying, tenacity and ability to work with others,” said Rees.
