House-Tree-Person

History of the House-Tree-Person

        The House-Tree-Person (HTP) was first developed by John Buck in 1948 and then updated in 1969.  It was originally based on the Goodenough scale which was used to assess intellectual functioning.  The HTP is usually used with children, and they are instructed to draw a house, tree, and person on three pieces of plain white paper.  Buck believed that through these drawings, the client's unconscious difficulties would be objectified.  

Reliability and Validity Factors 

       There is little evidence that shows that the HTP is reliable and valid.  The HTP is mostly subjective so it is nearly impossible for different therapists to interpret the drawings in the same way and reach the same conclusion.  There are some studies that show that HTP can accurately measure brain damage, and is used in assessing schizophrenic patients who suffer from brain damage.

Where to Obtain and Cost 

       The HTP is available at this website: <http://www.wpspublish.com/store/p/2796/house-tree-person-h-t-p-projective-drawing-technique>. The kit costs $215.50 and includes a copy of "The House-Tree-Person Projective Drawing Technique: Manual and Interpretive Guide", a copy of "House-Tree-Person Drawings: An Illustrated Diagnostic Handbook", a copy of Catalog for the Qualitative Interpretation of the House-Tree-Person (H-T-P), 25 H-T-P interpretation booklets, and 25 H-T-P drawing forms.  All of the parts of this kit can be purchased individually in case more booklets or forms are needed.

Administration and Interpretation 

          As mentioned above, the HTP is usually administered to children and adolescents because it requires the client to draw pictures.  It takes approximately 150 minutes to complete, although it does depend on the person (i.e. an adult may finish more quickly, or a neurologically impaired individual may take longer).  Clients are given the task of drawing a house, a tree, and a person on three pieces of paper, and will be asked a series of questions about the drawings.  There are 60 questions in the interpretation catalog (available in the HTP kit above), but the administrator can come up with their own follow-up questions.  Based on the drawings and the the answers to the questions, the counselor or therapist can interpret what is going on with the client, although different counselors/therapists will come up with varying interpretations.

Article 

         This article had a study which explored the characteristics of the HTP test in children with high-functioning autism (HFA).  The study included 35 children with HFA and 70 children without it.  Four elements of the assessments were evaluated: the evaluation, house, tree, and person items.  In the results, there were significant difference between the two groups of children on some of the items in the drawings.  Different items reflect different traits of the children, including social interaction, family relationships, unconscious and conscious self-concept, and interpersonal relationships.  The HFA children were shown to be lower in social interaction, were more likely to draw a person outside the house, had more simplified trees, and were less likely to draw more than one person.  The article concluded that the HTP drawing could possible reflect the deficiency of social interaction in HFA children wich consists of social interaction, interpersonal relationship, self-concept, and family relationships.  

Li, X., Cao, B., Yang, W., Qi, J., Liu, J., & Wang, Y. (2014). Characteristic of the synthetic house-tree-person test in children with high-functioning autism. Chinese Mental Health Journal,28(4), 260-266.

Image 

Sample House-Tree-Person

References 

Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders. (2014). House-tree-person test. Retreived from http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/House-tree-person-test.html

Niolon, R. (2003). House tree person drawings. Retrieved from http://www.intelligentietesten.com/house_tree_person_drawings.htm

WPS: Unlocking Potential. (2014). House-tree-person (H-T-P) projective drawing technique. Retrieved from http://www.wpspublish.com/store/p/2796/house-tree-person-h-t-p-projective-drawing-technique