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HTP Technique - Lecture notes 1

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (University of Perpetual Help System

DALTA)

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HOUSE – TREE – PERSON TECHNIQUE

The H-T-P, freehand drawing of House, Tree and Person is a technique designed to aid the clinician in obtaining
information concerning the sensitivity, maturity, flexibility, efficiency, and the degree of integrations of a subject’s personality; and
the interaction of that personality with its environment --- both specific and general (Buck, 1948). Projective drawings tap the
stream of personality needs as they flood the area of graphic creativity (Hammer, 1958). Besides its use in assessment, it has been
found useful as a screening device in group-testing for detecting maladjustment, as an evaluative aid for the child entering school,
as an appraisal device in screening applicants for employment, and as research instrument to locate common factors in an
identified sample (Oster & Gold, 1987).

The H-T-P is a two-phased approach to the personality. The first phase is non-verbal, creative, almost completely
unstructured; the medium of expression is a relatively primitive one, drawing. The second phase is verbal, apperceptive, and more
formally structured: the subject is provided with every opportunity to define, describe, and interpret the objects drawn and their
respective environments, and to associate concerning them.

The major credit for the invention and development of the H-T-P goes to John Buck and Emmanuel Hammer, who have
described the technique in their extensive writings. Much of the interpretative approach clinicians utilize with the H-T-P comes
primarily from the research and clinical wisdom of these authors. John Buck (in the United States) and Emil Jucker (in Switzerland)
independently discovered that the tree drawing allowed for personality projection, and Jucker’s student, Charles Koch developed
the tree drawing as a projective test. Buck added the house and person drawings to form the H-T-P Technique. Buck decided to
utilize a house and tree drawing because they were very familiar items, even to the young children, and most people were quite
willing to draw them. In addition, Buck found that the H-T-P drawing process stimulated free and open verbalizations, which had
significant symbolic significance.

The present form of this complex technique has evolved from ten years of study and clinical usage. In 1938, subjects
were asked to draw a House, Tree and Person simply because it had been discovered that withdrawn subjects tended to respond
more freely to interrogation while they were actively engaged in the act of drawing those particular items, and it was found useful
to take advantage of this so-called “pencil release” factor to facilitate verbalization on the part of the subject.

The specific items, House, Tree and Person; were chosen because (1) they were items familiar even to the comparatively
young child; (2) they were found to be more willingly accepted as objects for drawing by subjects of all ages than other items
suggested (3) they appeared to stimulate more frank and free verbalization than did other items.

It was soon discovered that although these particular items could be drawn in a very large number of ways, it was
possible to gain useful information concerning the subject’s intellectual level from an inspection of his drawings, and not long
thereafter it was found that valuable information concerning the important non-intellectual aspects of the total personality might
also be derived there from.

Much of what has been said about the clinical usefulness of the DAP is also true of the H-T-P. However, Newmark points
out additional important reasons for using the H-T-P (Newmark, 1996):

1. The H-T-P reflects the patient’s feelings about his or her home situation, typically represented in the house drawing;
2. The H-T-P is a less obvious test, and therefore patients are less guarded, especially when they are asked to draw a tree
and a house. Therefore, they can represent self and interpersonal issues more directly and with less defensiveness;
3. The tree drawing often able to reflect patient’s emotional history and the effect of that history on the person. For
example, scars or holes on the trunk tree are often said to represent specific emotional and/or physical traumas
experienced by the patient, and the location of the scar or hole on the tree trunk is sometimes said to determine
whether the trauma took place when the patient was younger or older;
4. The drawing of a house and a tree are very basic things children and adults enjoy drawing. They engage children and
capture their interest quite easily;
5. The tree drawing said to be a representation of the self, is said to tap deeper layers of the self than the DAP. Therefore, it
is more revealing of underlying dynamic issues.

MATERIALS:

 Four-page form sheet of white paper, each page 7”x 8.5” in size with space provided on the first page for entering
the date and certain pertinent data concerning the subject with the word HOUSE printed at the top of the second
page; the word TREE at the top of the third page; and the word PERSON at the top of the fourth.
 Several lead pencil of grade no. 2 with eraser

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HTP Interpretation Guide:

I. HOUSE
A. Placement
1. Upper left center of the page – usual position
2. Left side – indication of the past events; traditional in thinking; primitive, instinctual emotionality; feminine
tendencies; repression of feelings
3. Right side – over anxious about involvement; indication of what will happen in the future; intellectual control;
obsessive intellectual controlled masculinity
4. High placement on the page – over striving, high level of aspiration
5. Top left – severe regression; never was, never matured
6. Down right – depression; hypercontrol
7. At the bottom of the page – inadequacy and insecure feelings; depressive tendencies
8. Far away from the observer – inaccessible; withdrawal
9. Drawn to the side of the page – insecurity
10. On top of a hill or mountain, small house – has great dependency on the mother
11. On top of a hill or mountain, large house – tends to dominate
12. On top of a cloud like base – out of reality; schizophrenic
13. Edge drawing – regression (if by adult subject)

B. Size
1. Tiny house – withdrawal tendencies; regression: possibly neurotic or schizophrenic
2. Tiny but well drawn house – has feelings of inadequacy to the hostile environment
3. Large house – feeling of great frustration by a restricting environment; over compensation of fantasy defenses,
hostility and aggressive tendencies; feelings of great tension and irritability

C. Perspective
1. Double perspective – dull but normal; lack of judgment; typical of schizophrenics
2. Façade present – shows reflecting or fear of revealing oneself; secretive; show hostility towards the environment
3. Profile of the house – schizophrenic
4. Side view of the house – suspicious
5. On ground but leaning to the left or right – pre-psychotic
6. Ground, getting up toward the right – expects future difficulties
7. Ground, getting down to the right – pessimistic
8. Floating house or drawn from the underside – schizophrenic due to character disorder
9. Bird’s eye view – rejects own home; (far from the observer) inaccessibility, unable to cope with at home; (arch-like)
dependency on the mother; exhibitionism may be applied
10. Worm’s eye view – feelings of rejection and unhappiness; withdrawal tendencies, desire for only limited
interpersonal contact, inferiority and inadequacy of feelings; goals perceived as unattainable

D. Type
1. Split house – split between parent and child
2. Apartment house or with many doors – lack of family integration, in personal contacts at home
3. Row of houses or houses near each other – has a need for support
4. Drawn on the ground – has contact with reality
5. With garage – need for motor activity, desire to get out of the house
6. With gutters – concerned with elimination of bed-wetting; defensive
7. House like a mask – paranoid schizophrenic
8. House more vertical than horizontal – shows involvement in fantasy, attempting to cling to reality
9. Blueprint of an architect – hype concrete, practical excessively utilitarian

E. Roof
1. Overemphasis on the roof – schizophrenic
2. Large roof – shows a lot of fantasy
3. Small roof – shoes fear of fantasy
4. Arch-like roof – shows dependency, fantasy
5. Shapeless roof – psychotic
6. Roof with wings or wing-like roof – psychotic idea of flying away
7. Roof with ears or ear-like roof – auditory sensitivity; epileptic

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8. Roof is the wall – acts out his fantasies

9. Like a tent - acts out his fantasies
10. Roof with leaves – overly defensive and suspicious
11. Overemphasis on the leaves on the roof – suspicious schizophrenic
12. Meticulously drawn roof – shows obsession
13. Emphasis through size – fantasy satisfaction
14. Deep shading – anxiety in fantasy level

F. Chimney (Filipino setting not that applicable)

1. Chimney drawn – phallic concerns
2. Emphasis through enlargement – over concerned with psychological warmth of house; sexual concern; virility or
castration fears; exhibitionistic intellectual deterioration
3. Emission of chimney – feeling of lack of psychological warmth in the home; missing father, difficulty in sexual motive
4. Smoking chimney – normalcy if smoke is drawn blowing from left to right and also suggests a conservative attitude
5. Intense smoke – suggests feelings of environmental pressures
6. Profuse or large smoke – inner tension or anxiety in home situation; ever concern with sex
7. Little smoke – shows little warmth
8. If blowing from left to right – pessimism and feelings of pressure
9. If blowing from both left to right – reality testing as in psychotics
10. Tottering smoke – virility and castration fear, has pretense of masculinity
11. Transparent Smoke – has pretense of masculinity
12. Peeping smoke or smoke just coming out – shows fear of emotions and phallic fear
13. Bizarre smoke – has problems with sexual areas
14. Entire chimney within the boundary of the roof – castration fear
15. With antenna – protection of phallus

G. Walls
1. Walls made were overemphasized – shows great effort to control
2. Faint walls – fears the break of ego
3. No walls / side of the page used as walls – shows aggression, no control over impulse
4. Broken lines of the walls – influenced by outside forces, shows loss of control
5. Materials of the walls drawn (tiles, hollow blocks, etc) – has over concern of the body
6. Transparent walls (inside is seen) – lack of reality contact, severely impaired judgment
7. Double perspective – possible mental deficiency
8. Single perspective (only one wall is drawn) – strong need to maintain acceptable façade in interpersonal relations; if
a side wall – serious withdrawal and paranoid reactions
9. Heavy shading of walls (if subject is beyond 6 years old) – shows depression
10. Thick sides of the wall (if subject is beyond 6 years old) – schizoid

H. Doors
1. Absence of doors – withdrawal tendencies
2. Large doors – orally dependent / over dependence on others
3. Small doors – has anal needs
4. Small, barred doors – tend to be on the lookout for trouble
5. Open door, people inside – has a need to be seen by others
6. Open door, nothing inside – open to vulnerability
7. Heavily hinged or locked doors – withdrawal and defensiveness
8. Drawn above baseline and without steps – possible phallic preoccupations, possible excessive concern regarding
accessibility and interpersonal relations, orality and dependency
9. Large door knob – dependent on the mother
10. Door beyond baseline – great degree of willingness to get in contact
11. Shaded doorway of the house – shows hostility to the environment
12. Back door – guilt-ridden anxiety

I. Windows
1. Many in number – possible exhibitionistic tendencies, has oral needs
2. Without shades or shutters – readiness to environmental contact
3. Large windows – has oral needs
4. With shades – over concern regarding environmental interaction

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5. Small window – has anal needs, lack of interest in people

6. Overly large windows – great demandness
7. Blank windows – shows oppositional tendencies
8. Curtains and shades absent – no feeling of need to hide one’s feelings
9. Curtained window – withdrawal tendencies, reserved accessibility; (when not closed) – consciously controlled
socialization with some anxiety implied
10. Heavily reinforced window – concern with interpersonal relations
11. Windows without panes – hostility and oppositional tendencies
12. Lightly drawn or sketched windows – shows feelings of emptiness
13. Locks emphasized on windows – guardedness and defensiveness
14. Barred windows – stays away and look out for trouble , shows lack of contact, the home or room is treated as prison
and tendency to move away
15. No windows – shows coldness and lack of contact with reality
16. Different windows – unstable and unpredictable behavior
17. Cellar with windows – shows watchfulness
18. Windows high up on the wall – schizophrenic
19. With little dots – eyes watching

J. Path / Pathway
1. Well-drawn pathway or side walk – emotional stability, tactful
2. Long, narrow pathway – lessened accessibility
3. Large pathway, path is short – superficial friendliness
4. Large pathway but small house – compensatory sociability

K. Background
1. Clouds – anxiety
2. With fences – anxiety
3. With shrubs and trees – Anxious
4. Shadows – conflicting situations
5. Irrelevant details – severe anxiety

II. TREE
A. Details
1. Apple tree – (by children) dependence, (if fallen) – rejection
2. Dead trees – psychologically disturbed, depression or with guilt feelings with possible suicidal tendencies
3. Enormous tree – possible aggressive tendencies, possible hypersensitivity
4. Drawn on an arch-like hill – exhibitionistic tendencies
5. Isolated on a hilltop – feeling of grandiosity or superiority, feeling of isolation
6. Large tree – dominance and exhibitionistic tendencies
7. Small tree – maternal dependency, weak ego and low energy level
8. Drawn partly up a hill – feelings of striving need, shelter and security
9. Split trees – breakdown of defenses, shattered personality
10. Viewed from above – feelings of depression and defeat
11. Two trees – sibling rivalry oranxiety
12. Grass and shrubs around the tree – with some anxiety but well under control
13. Yellow tree – (if drawn by a child) autistic; (if drawn by an adult) – shows inappropriate emotional love, schizophrenic
14. Top of the tree is divided – shows psychotic breakdown
15. Like a keyhole – shows resistance self centered
16. X-ray trees (pure branches) – strong suicidal tendencies
17. Tree with fruits – shows dependency
18. Palm tree – prides himself with sexual power
19. Advance organic tree or all its parts are seen – desire for immediate satisfaction or over control
20. Tree with falling fruits – character disorder

B. Position
1. Leaning to the left - has need for emotion satisfaction
2. Leaning to the right – uses intellectualization, desire to repress unpleasant memories
3. Shifts from left to right – has urgent basic needs
4. Leaves drooping down – shows aggression

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C. Placement
1. beyond top of the page – heavy fantasy
2. on baseline of the paper – depression; (in adults) – feeling of inadequacy
3. In yard like area – maternal dependency

D. Roots
1. Exposed or coming out – ungratified needs, unsatisfied instinctual drives
2. Emphasized – great need for dependency
3. Roots cut off by the ground – shows strong masochism, has suicidal tendencies
4. Faint, thin roots – has poor contact with reality
5. Tendril-like roots – frail, not grasping personality
6. Talon-like roots – power oriented personality
7. Talon-like roots but do not go to the ground – paranoid tendency
8. Pointed roots – schizophrenic
9. Large root area, spread out roots – domineering and dominant
10. Roots elaborate but not on the ground line – has no reality to cling on
11. Roots transparent through the ground – has guilt over instinctual activity, shows poor judgment
12. Roots getting deeper in the ground – show dependency

E. Trunk
1. Tiny trunk – shows inadequacy, ineptness a weak ego
2. Enormous trunk – feelings of environmental constriction and aggressiveness tendencies
3. Overly large trunk – react aggressively in fantasy
4. Bulging trunk – oral dependency
5. Large trunk with small branches structure – excessive striving or satisfaction seeking
6. Tree with splitting trunk – schizophrenia due to lack of integration or due to character disorder
7. Tree with readiness to split – borderline schizophrenia
8. Narrow at the base, large on top – over striving
9. Trunk reaches above top of the page – strong in fantasy preoccupation but tends not to reveal this
10. Trunk with cut – has traumatic experiences
11. Slashed across – suicidal
12. Space between the bottom of the trunk and underground – shows difficulty in grasping reality or schizophrenic
13. Faint line trunk – shows weak control
14. Broken lines for the trunk – shows break the age boundaries
15. Emphasis on the trunk / shaded trunk – shows effort to maintain control
16. One dimensional – inferior adjustment; (drawn slowly) – depression, feelings of impotence

F. Bark
1. Scars in the tree – shows castration anxiety
2. Well drawn bark – show good ego integration

G. Branches
1. Poorly integrated branches – show disturbance in integration balance
2. Branches more in the left – personality imbalance
3. Branches more to the right – over intellectual control
4. Very faint branches – indecision and anxiety
5. Tiny branches on large trunk – frustration due to inadequacy in deriving satisfaction
6. Excessive branches on small trunk – high achievement tendencies
7. Falling branches – possible loss of ability to cope up with environmental pressures
8. Short, spear like branches – aggressive tendencies, exaggerated desire to dominate
9. Very tall branches extending off the top of the paper – excessive fantasy
10. Turning inward rather than out – egocentric introversion, obsessive compulsive
11. Thick, very short “cut-off” branches – suicidal
12. Broken or dead branches – traumatic experiences
13. One branch – shows depression, has weak resources
14. Two dimensional – show good organization
15. Sharp-edge, pointed branches – dominating and sadistic
16. All branches down to the edge of the paper – has strong acting out tendencies

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17. Branches small but larger trunks – release of tensions

18. Branches shooting out of the leaves – sadistic
19. Branches going to the ground – suicidal
20. Drooping branches – shows depression
21. Branch cut-off – feeling of rejection
22. Club-like branches – fear of castration, exaggerate desire to dominate
23. Open ended branches – repressed impulses

H. Leaves
1. Leaves really drawn – excessive desire of fulfillment on a thing
2. Shades and diffused leaves – show anxiety
3. No leaves – rigid, cold, frustrated
4. Tree with drooping leaves – depression
5. Two dimensional – obsessive compulsive
6. Fruits falling – has feelings of rejection

I. Dead Parts
1. Branches – loss of satisfaction
2. Trunk – loss of control
3. Roots – loss of grasp in reality

III.PERSON
A. Visuals
1. Silhouetted or shaded figures - depersonalization done by schizophrenia
2. Back view of the person – shows withdrawal
3. Seated figure – depression or passivity
4. Immature qualities of a person – hysteria
5. Person clinging to a fence or tree – anxiety / neuroses
6. Person crossed by the subject – has recoverability in character disorders
7. Tall person, long legs, narrow trunk – schizophrenic

B. Perspective
1. Person located by the sun – tries to equate grandeur illusions
2. Person falling – shows intending collapse of the ego

C. Head
1. Enlarged head – intellectual grandiosity
2. Head and face dimmed out – consciousness or shyness
3. Head drawn last – possibility of severe thought disturbance
4. Head is very clearly drawn in contrast with a vaguely sketched or rejected body – resorts to fantasy
5. Small head – suggests obsessive-compulsive, marked inferiority feelings, denial of site of guilt feeling
6. Large head in small body – false impulses control (catatonic may draw tiny head, huge body, huge tree)
7. Large head – shows emphasis on the intellectual or superior mind
8. Flat top head – feelings of castration especially on intellectual or learning area
9. Head to back – paranoid
10. Odd head or head drawn with bed shape on a side – location of pain shown by the portion drawn oddly
11. Vague drawing of the head – schizophrenic
12. Head without features – shows depersonalization
13. Round, lollipop head – shows immaturity

D. Hair and Beard

1. Without hair – shows social insensitivity
2. Well-drawn hair – sensitivity
3. Heavily shaded hair – anxiety about fantasy
4. Astray or messy hair – there may be anxiety about sexual strivings
5. Whirling hair – mental instability
6. Long hair – shows sexuality
7. Long hair but not shaded – shows ambivalence over sexuality
8. Long, over emphasize hair – shows over concern over sexuality

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9. Gives hair a great deal or attention and care – narcissistic or homosexual individuals
10. Hair on face, beard or mustache – doubt about masculinity

E. Face
1. Overemphasis on the face – effort to maintain social font
2. Shaded face – suggest depersonalization or guilt
3. Features emphasized – shows suspicion as seen in paranoid schizophrenics
4. Asymmetry of features – shows personal disintegration
5. Mask-liked face – schizophrenic
6. Face seems submissive – hysteria

F. Eyes
1. Very large and if those of male figures have lashes – tends to be homosexual
2. Large in outline but pupils omitted or absent – maybe experiencing guilt in relation to voyeuristic tendencies
3. Large and staring – possibility of paranoid traits
4. Closed eyes – avoidance of unpleasant stimuli
5. Complete omission of the eye – might indicate visual hallucinations
6. Dotted ayes – want to see as little as possible
7. Oriental eyes – suspiciousness
8. Watchful, looking eyes – emphasis on detail, very sensitive visualization
9. With blinders, like eyeglasses or shades – has visual hallucinations
10. Wide eyes open – shows fear of voyeurism
11. Slanted eyes – schizoid tendencies

G. Nose
1. Hooked or broad and flared – maybe experiencing rejection
2. Especially large – feelings of impotence
3. Extremely large – usually drawn by depressed people
4. Turned up nose – schizoid

H. Mouth and Chin

1. Heavy lips – oral emphasis
2. Teeth – oral hostility
3. One line mouth – oral resistance or denial
4. No mouth – resistance
5. Emphasis by shading mouth – sensitivity
6. Jagged mouth – shows oral aggression
7. Chin – associated with masculinity, often social rather than sexual
8. Under emphasized chin – feelings of social impotence

I. Ear
1. Enlarged and emphasized – possibility of organic damage to the auditory area, passive homosexual conflict
2. Under emphasized – sensitivity to criticisms
3. Omitted entirely – possibility to auditory hallucinations

J. Trunk
1. Long trunk – unsatisfied needs of which he/she is not aware of
2. Short trunk – denial of drives
3. Tall, narrow trunk – avoidance of extreme contact

K. Neck
1. Thin neck – schizoid
2. No neck – lack of control

L. Shoulder
1. Tiny – feelings of inferiority
2. Rounded – well balanced
3. Square – over defensive attitude
4. Unequal – sexual conflict

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M. Genitalia
1. Over emphasis on buttocks – maybe seen on homosexual males
2. Lack of pelvic closure – suggest latent homosexuality

N. Arms
1. Arms as wings – schizoid tendencies
2. Too long arms – over ambitious striving
3. Short arms – absence
4. One dimensional – gross inadequacy of feelings of regression
5. Broader in hand area – impulsive
6. Snake like – stealing activity with pockets of stolen goods
7. Broken off or omitted – feeling of castration
8. Arms at back – guilt, hiding something, no desire to meet people
9. No arms – feelings of tremendous inadequacy
10. Relaxed arms – suggest adjustment
11. Tense – rigidity
12. Crossed over pelvic region – feelings of loss of sexual potency
13. Well drawn hands – person of above average intelligence
14. Heavily shaded – suggest guilt, masturbation
15. Clenched fist – hostile feelings
16. Extremely large hands – impulsiveness, awkwardness in social situations
17. Mitten hand – infantile frustration, weak, dependent
18. Large fingers, spike like, protruding – suggests hostility

O. Legs
1. Large – striving for autonomy
2. Tied together – rigidity and tension in regard to sexual area
3. Spread out legs – insecurity if body is not too well balanced
4. Relaxed position, normal – can adjust, feels forced to achieve
5. Controlled running – attempt to achieve

P. Knee and Feet

1. Knee – emphasized homosexual tendencies, strain during act of sex
2. Backward feet – desire to get away from the environment
3. Large feet – may suggest phallic exhibitionism
4. Tiptoe feet – tenuous reality, fantasy
5. Club feet – poor judgment
6. Web like feet – schizoid, connotes weakness

Q. Clothing
1. Over emphasis on clothing – feeling of inferiority to which the subject over compensate through physical attraction
2. Heavily coated figure or with heavy coat – shows isolation against the environment
3. With tie – has problems with masculinity
4. Transparent clothing – poor control of sexual impulses
5. Over emphasis on body shown by heavy line – shows narcissism
6. Broken lines for body with zones separated or disintegrating body – show deterioration of age bounds, has ego
dysfunction

Other graphic considerations

1. Impulsive drawing eg. Christmas tree or fruits – hysteria
2. Draws very fast – acute schizophrenia
3. Wide space in drawing – paranoid schizophrenia
4. Lower part of the page used – neurotic depression
5. Lacking details – neurotic / psychotic depression
6. Excessive details – obsessive compulsive neurotic
7. Overuse of shading - anxiety

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