HOUSE-TREE-PERSON

HISTORY OF HOUSE-TREE-PERSON

 The House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) is a projective test

developed by John Buck.
 The House-Tree-Person was developed in 1948 and

updated in 1969.
 These test was designed to measure personality’s

aspects, was originally based on Goodenough scale of

intellectual functioning.
 The administration and scoring manual is consist of 350

pages because the scoring and interpretation is mostly

subjective which is difficult.
PURPOSE OF H-T-P
 The test is a diagnostic tool for clinical psychologists,
educators, and employers
 Measure aspects of a person’s personality.

 Assess brain damage and general mental functioning.

 Projecting inner world onto the page.

DESCRIPTION TO USE WITH
 Test taker should be over the age of three, mostly
children and adolescents because this test requires
drawing.
 The test usually requires 150 minutes but take less time

with normally functioning adults and much more time

neurologically impaired individuals.
 Especially appropriate for individuals who are non-

English-speaking, culturally different, educationally

deprived, or developmentally disabled
ADMINISTRATION
Phases

First phase
Second phase
FIRST PHASE
 Test takers are asked to use a crayon to draw pictures of
a house, a tree, and a person.
FIRST PHASE
 Each drawing is done on a separate piece of paper and
the test taker is asked to draw as accurately as possible.
 Upon completion of the drawings, test takers are asked

questions about the drawings.

QUESTIONS
Ask questions after each picture is drawn:
House
 Who lives here?

 are they happy?

 What goes on inside?

 What's it like at night?

 Do people visit here?

 What else do the people in the house want to add to the

drawing?
QUESTIONS
Tree
 What kind of tree is this?

 How old is it?

 What season is it?

 Has anyone tried to cut it down?

 What else grows nearby?

 Who waters the tree?

 Trees need sunshine to live so does it get enough

sunshine?
QUESTIONS
Person
 Who is this person?

 How old are they?

 What's their favorite thing to do?

 What's something they do not like?

 Has anyone tried to hurt them?

 Who looks out for them?

SECOND PHASE
 During the second phase of the test, test takers are asked
to draw the same pictures with a pencil.
SECOND PHASE
 The questions that follow this phase are similar to the
ones in the first phase.
 Some examiners give only one of the two phases,

choosing either a crayon, a pencil, or some other writing

instrument.
HOW TO START
Use three pieces of plain white 8.5x11 paper, give
the first and say "Here I want you to draw as good a
house as you can "
HOW TO START
 Question, give the next sheet. "Draw as good a tree as
you can"
HOW TO START
 Question, give the next sheet. "Draw as good a person as
you can," (if a profile or head only, say, "Wait, I want
you to draw a whole person, not just the head or
profile").
DRAWING ANALYSIS
Drawings are interpreted using two “paths”; intra-
subjective and inter-subjective
 First path, intra-subjective, considers the content and

quality of the three drawings; also explores the depth of

material behind the drawing
I. Lack of many details, incomplete wholes, and use of very
faint lines are a combination found in subjects who are
deeply depressed.
DRAWING ANALYSIS
II. A ground line sloping downward and away from
the drawn whole on either side may reflect a
feeling of isolation, exposure, and helplessness in
the face of environmental pressures.
• Second path, inter-subjective, considers features
indicative of a certain emotional tendency
HOUSE INTERPRETATIONS
 Associations concerning home-life
 Interfamilial relationships

 Attitude toward their home situation (children)

 Relationships to parents and siblings

 Married adults

 A very small house might indicate rejection of one's

home life
LINES AND WALLS
 the walls might represent the test taker's degree of ego
strength
 Represent boundaries and strengths of the ego,

 Weak lines in the structure of the house are weaknesses

in the ego,
 Strong lines are problems with anxiety and a need to

reinforce boundaries.
ROOF
 The roof might represent one's intellectual side
 Symbolizes the fantasy life

 Extra attention to it can indicate extra attention to

fantasy and ideation,

 An extremely large roof suggests that a person is highly

withdrawn or extremely involved with an inner world
fantasy.
ROOF
 If windows are drawn on the roof, the person might tend
to view the environment through a world of fantasy
images.
 While incomplete, or tiny roofs can indicate avoidance

of overpowering and frightening fantasies (think about

fears of ghosts in the attic - these are based on the
association for us) a highly constricted, concrete
orientation.
WINDOWS AND DOORS
 The doors and windows are the portions of the house that
relates to the outside world.

 Small bolted' up houses, or barred windows are doors

suggest that the person might be withdrawn, and
inaccessible, or possibly suspicious or even hostile.
 This is further exaggerated if the doors and windows are

entirely missing.
WINDOWS AND DOORS

 An open door and/or many windows suggest strong

needs for contact with others. are all ways that others
enter or see into the house, they relate to openness ,
willingness to interact with others, and ideas about the
environment.

 Very large windows , especially in the bedroom, or

bathroom, suggests exhibitionism.
PATHWAYS
 Pathways that are wide and lead directly to the door
suggest the client is accessible, open and direct.
 If the pathway is extremely wide, the client might

initially express a superficial sense of friendliness but

later become aloof and distant.

 In contrast, the absence of a pathway indicates the

client may be closed, distant removed.
 Pathways that are long, and winding may reflect

someone who is initially aloof, but can later warm up

and become accessible.

PATHWAYS

 The presence of Fences suggests defensiveness.

 Shutters, bars, curtains, and long and winding sidewalks

indicate some unwillingness to reveal much about
yourself.
CHIMNEY
 A chimney can relate either to a person’s availability
and warmth, or the degree of power and masculinity he
or she feels.

 A missing chimney suggests passivity or a lack of

psychological warmth in a person’s home life.
 Whereas normal amounts of smoke highlight warmth

in the home.
 An excessive amount of smoke suggest inner tensions,

aggression and conflict.

ACCESSORIES OF THE HOUSE

 Cars could be signs of visitors coming or people in the

home leaving.

 Lights could be signs to welcome visitors

 Locks and knobs Defensive personality and poor

interpersonal relationship with siblings

 Sun Need of warmth and attraction

ACCESSORIES OF THE HOUSE
 Mountain Show depression and anxiety
 WATER PONDS Need of having sexual relations at

unconscious level.
 DOUBLE STORY HOUSE Double standards of the

person.
 BACK DOOR: Shows some secretes in life and don’t

want to express these, also guilt feelings in males shows

sexual relations.
 LAWN AND FLOWERS Some sort of pleasant

personality, good interpersonal relations. Person is

satisfied with family.
ACCESSORIES OF THE HOUSE
 SNOW ON ROOF: Indication of severe depression.
 PERSON WALKING ON WALKWAY TOWARD

HOME: Good interpersonal relationship.

 WALKING AWAY FROM HOME: Poor interpersonal

relationship.
 SWINGS, CARS, POTS etc..: Good interpersonal

relations.
 BIRDS: Anxiety

 CLOUDS, SKY (SHADING): Anxiety

 SWING WITHOUT CHILD: Issue

TREE INTERPRETATIONS
TREE INTERPRETATIONS

 The tree has been the symbol for life and growth.
 The branches might indicate the test taker's relation to

the outside world and the trunk might indicate

inner strength.
TREE INTERPRETATIONS

 If the tree is withered by the environment it might

reflect a person who has been broken by external
stress.
 A tree with no branches suggests the person has little

contacted with people.

TREE INTERPRETATIONS

07/14/2025
 CLOUD LIKE TREE: Confused thinking.
 HUMAN LIKE TREE OR BUG LIKE

TREE: Tendency of schizophrenia and high

pathological risk
FRUIT AND FLOWER: Strong tendency to have
children

40
THE TRUNK

 The trunk can be seen as representing inner strength,

self-esteem, and intactness of personality.

 The use of faint sketchy lines to represent the trunk

indicates a passivity, and insecurity.

 Scars or knot-holes suggest traumatic experiences.

THE TRUNK

 Very thin trunks suggest a unstable level of adjustment.

 Small trunks are limited ego strength.

 Large trunks are more strength... (think about the saying that
a tree that bends lasts through the wind, but one that doesn't
snaps, like the ego that is flexible and healthy lasts through
the world, but the inflexible and neurotic ego ends up
broken).
LIMBS
 Limbs are the efforts our ego makes to "reach out" to the
world and support "things that feed us" what we need.

 Limbs detached are difficulties reaching out, or efforts

to reach out that we can't control.

 Small branches are limited skills to reach out.

 Big branches may be too much reaching out to meet

needs.
Limbs
BRANCHES
 The branches function as a means by which the tree
extends itself out into and related to its environment.
 They reflect a person’s growth and degree of perceived

resource.
 If the branches are moving upward, the person might be

ambitious, and “reaching” for opportunities.

 Theresa downward reaching (weeping willows)

branches suggest low levels of energy.

 Branches that are cut represent a sense of being

traumatized, and dead branches indicate feelings of

emptiness, and hopelessness.
BRANCHES
 Tiny branches suggest that the person experiences
difficulty getting attention from his or her environment,

 Big branches may be too much reaching out to meet

needs.

 Very pointy ones represent aggressiveness.

 Gnarled branches are "twisted" and represent being

"twisted" in some efforts to reach out.
Pointy branches
GNARLED BRANCHES
LEAVES

 Leaves are signs that efforts to reach out or getting

successful.
 No leaves could mean feeling barren,

 Leaves detached from the branches mean the nurturing

we get is not very predictable.

 Pointy leaves could be aggression, obsessive attention to

detail on the leaves could be Obsessive Compulsive

tendencies.
POINTY LEAVES
ROOT
 The roots refer to the person’s hold on reality but also
reflect a relationship to the past issues.
 Small and ineffective roots. Indicate a person is having

a difficult time “getting a grip” on life.

 No roots can mean insecurity and no feeling of being

grounded.
 Overemphasized roots can be excessive concern with

reality testing,
 Dead roots often indicate emptiness, and anxiety

consistent with obsessive-compulsive, especially if there

in excessive detailing in other areas.
ROOTS
OTHER DETAILS

 Christmas trees after the season is over can mean

regressive fantasies (thinking about holidays and
family and good times to make yourself feel better).
PERSON INTERPRETATIONS
HEAD
 Disproportional Large Head: Indicates Grandiosity
and intellectual ego.
 Small Head: Indicates inadequacy inferior intellectually.

LEGS and FEET

 Overdetailing of feet. (shoe lace, shoe design) suggest

obsessive characteristics with strong narcissism.

 Small Feet: Indicates need for security.

 Big Feet’s: Indicate losing some thing or insecurity.

 Absence of Feet’s: Shows Abuse Child.

HAIR: Associated with sexual feelings.
 Overemphasis on Hair: Sexual Preoccupation,

compulsive feelings of sexual inadequacy.

 Heavy shaded hair. Show anxiety and over thinking.

EYES
 Closed Eyes: Indicates the desire to avoid the perceiving

the world.
 Large Eyes: Unusual visual alertness (Delusional

Symptoms.)
 Doted Eyes: Indicates closed narrow minded.

 Omission of eye: Show visual hallucination.

MOUTH: It is how we get needs fulfill (Freud Oral
Stage).

 Big and open Mouth: Shows neediness.

 Closed Tight Mouth: Shows denial of needs and some

passive aggressive tendencies.

 Omitted Mouth: Show guilt and insecurities
ARMS: Indicate the person’s attachment with environment
and hands the way we affect it.

 Open Arms: Indicate willingness to engage.

 Disconnected Arms: Indicates powerlessness.

 Closed Arms: Indicate Defensiveness.

 Pointed Fingers or Balled Fists: Shows Aggression.

 Hidden and Glove Hands: Indicates Anxiety or

Antisocial Tendencies.
 Absence of hand. Show feeling of inadequacy.
 Emphasis on ears. Drawn by paranoid person.
 Omission of ears. Suggest auditory hallucination.

 Chin. Is masculinity symbol. Overemphasis on it implies

a need for dominance.
 Overemphasis on belt. Show sexual preoccupation.

 Button. Show regression.

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