Abstract
Adult children of divorce often feel anger and abandonment towards the parent that left the home
and their disconnection with their child after divorce. These feelings can lead to decreased selfesteem
and self-worth, including a fracture in their relationship with that parent. Creating
mosaics along with following a course of acceptance and forgiveness may help the adult child
process the feelings of anger and abandonment they have carried with them their entire lives.
This paper examines the literature available regarding adult children of divorce, and how art
therapy can promote an adult child to process their feelings. This researcher conducted a
heuristic study to determine the process of mosaic making of the adult child and their state of
mind including that of anger and abandonment. The themes that repeatedly arose for this
researcher were those of displaced anger, negative feelings toward the parent, depression and
self-esteem issues and whether the adult child was truly ready to process these feelings and their
capacity for acceptance and forgiveness.
