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It can inspire a conversation between the pediatrician and child. It is far easier, for example, for a child to talk about his or her drawing than about himself or his feelings (Malchiodi, 2009). Participants begin the HTP test by drawing the house, followed by the tree, and finally the person.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
In other figure-drawing tests, interpersonal relationships are assessed by having the child draw a family or some other situation in which more than one person is present. While these interpretations can offer insights, they are not definitive diagnoses. Individual and cultural differences, as well as context, play a crucial role in understanding the meaning behind the drawings. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards are primarily designed for individuals aged 14 and older. However, there are variations of the test, like the Children’s Apperception Test (CAT), specifically tailored for children aged 3 to 10 years. The selection of cards and interpretation are adjusted based on the age and developmental level of the individual.
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Positive & Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Buck believed that drawings of houses and trees could also provide relevant information about the functioning of an individual’s personality. The house-tree-person test can be an effective way to evaluate children, people with brain damage and people with a limited ability to communicate for personality disorders 2. A projective personality test, the house-tree-person test requires the test taker to draw a house, a tree and a person 3. The test is then used as a measure of self-perception, outlook and sometimes brain damage. Interpretations of the test are subjective, and based loosely on a set of basic principles. One is that the scoring and interpretation of the HTP test are not standardized and lack consistency.
Drawing a tree
Finally, the drawing of the person is deeply linked to self-concept and self-esteem. Each of the parts of the body has an interpretable dimension that accounts for affective, sexual, communicative, and social levels. For example, the hands refer to affectivity and the legs signify the drawer’s contact with reality. The arms relate to their adaptation and integration to the world and to their relationships with others.
Further details of the search strategy are displayed in the Supplementary material. These findings can promote the standardization of the HTP test and provide a theoretical reference for the screening and clinical diagnosis of mental disorders. Finally, some figure drawing tests are used as part of the diagnostic procedure for specific psychological or neuropsychological impairment types, such as central nervous system dysfunction or mental retardation. Some figure-drawing tests are primarily measures of cognitive abilities or cognitive development.
The expert will probably suggest that they draw in the most natural way possible and forget as much about the context as possible, as well as the subsequent analysis of the drawing. This personality test can seem like a children’s game, but it’s also useful for adults. It is used in clinics, psychological counseling offices, and educational psychology departments. The person is a kind of self-portrait or self-image that includes their consciousness and defense mechanisms.
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Statistical analysis
In addition, thought-specific indicators included excessive separation among items, no window, loss of facial features, and inappropriate body proportions. Excessive separation among items means that the house, tree, and person are separate and independent, which is more consistent with the broken and detached thinking of patients with thought-type disorders (e.g., schizophrenia). The results of the comparison study showed that this characteristic was only present in the schizophrenia group and not in the normal group (41, 58).
In these tests, there is a consideration of how well a child draws and the content of a child’s drawing. In some tests, the child’s self-image is considered through the drawings. The analyzer can predict certain personality traits of the individual based on his or her drawings of these simple, everyday objects. You probably wouldn’t realize it, but when you draw a house, a tree, and a person, you shed light on things you keep locked away in your unconscious for various reasons. The level of detail is another revealing factor in outlining the respondent’s personality through drawing. A detailed face might indicate a need to present oneself in a favorable social light.
Drawing characteristics of the house-tree-person test
Based on the above findings, oversimplified painting, small drawing size, and small imagery should be of concern regardless of which mental disorders are being screened for and diagnosed. First, this paper innovatively integrates the characteristics of drawing in related studies since the development and application of HTP measurement through meta-analysis. This provides a reference standard for the selection of indicators in future HTP studies and offers the possibility for the development of objectification of the test (10, 12). In future studies, objectified indicators should be selected, and feature coding criteria should be formed to continuously promote the formation of an objectified HTP system.
When kid’s drawings were first studied to identify patterns in child development in the 1880s, it was thought that cultural differences mattered little. Because the social world of friends and families is shaped by the culture of the child, we would, however, expect drawings to reflect that. Drawings from three different cultures; German upper-class families, Cameroon farming families, and Ankara, Turkey urban middle-class families were compared in a recent study (Gernhardt, 2013).
Common indicators of mental disorders included no additional decoration, simplified drawings, very small houses, two-dimensional houses, and very small trees. Many previous comparative studies on mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia and normal individuals have found significant differences (19, 62). Therefore, the common characteristics of mental disorders all reflect the lack of mental motivation.
This depends on how long it takes the patient to draw and tell the story. Of course, it also depends on their predisposition and whether the analyst decides to ask questions at the end. The therapist provides all the necessary materials like paper, pencils, and an eraser.
In addition, loss of facial features and inappropriate body proportions are more common due to the wild imaginations of thought-category disorder patients (60). Some patients may experience physical discomfort that is projected into their drawings. Based on these findings, when screening for and diagnosing thought-type disorders (e.g., schizophrenia), focus should be placed on the obvious absence or excessive separation of drawing characteristics. Affective-specific indicators included no motion, leaning house, and decorated roof. No motion is an important reflection of emptiness, reflecting a depressed mood and lack of mental motivation, which coincides with the clinical manifestations of depression.
While the HTP test offers valuable insights, it is crucial to acknowledge its limitations. Being a subjective test, interpretations can vary widely, and it is essential to use it in conjunction with other assessment tools for a more comprehensive understanding of an individual's psychological state. Cultural and individual differences can also influence the drawings, necessitating consideration of the broader context and background of the individual. The funnel plot (Figure 2) showed that most of the effect sizes were located at the top of the funnel plot and were largely evenly clustered on either side of the mean effect values. It can be preliminarily judged that the possibility of publication bias in this meta-analysis is low.
Common examples include the Rorschach inkblot and Thematic Apperception tests (TAT). Projective test — A psychological test in which the test taker responds to or provides ambiguous, abstract, or unstructured stimuli, often in the form of pictures or drawings. One variation of test administration involves asking the individual to draw two separate persons, one of each sex.
