House Tree Person (HTP)

Projective Test
VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY OF PAKISTAN
House Tree Person (HTP)
Introduction:
• The House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) is a projective technique developed by John Buck
(1948- Updated in 1969).
• HTP requires a participant to draw pictures of a house, tree and a person and
answer a few questions about his drawings.
• The participant’s drawings are then assessed through manuals which decode the
general and specific features of the drawings.
• A 350-page manual was written by Buck to instruct the test-giver on proper grading
of the HTP, which is more subjective than quantitative.
• However, shorter versions of the manual are now being used for research, academic
and clinical purposes.
House Tree Person (HTP)
Rational:
John Buck believed that through drawings, subjects objectified unconscious difficulties
by sketching the inner image of the primary process.
Purpose:
• The primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person’s personality
through interpretation of the drawings and responses to questions.
• It is also used with individuals suspected of having brain damage or other
neurological impairments.
House Tree Person (HTP)
Population:
HTP can be given to any one over the age of three. Because it requires
test takers to draw pictures, it is often used with children and
adolescents.
Time
The test takes an average of 40 minutes—1 ½ hour to complete.
• Less time—Normally functioning
• More time—neurologically impaired
House Tree Person (HTP)
Materials needed:
1. House Tree Person (HTP) interpretation manual. (Available in downloads section of
VU LMS)
2. Participants drawings.
3. Pencil.
4. Papers (A4)

Administration:
Test taker is asked to draw pictures of house, tree and person respectively on separate
sheets of A4 size paper with pencil and is asked to draw as accurately as possible. Upon
completion, he is asked questions about the drawings. At some instances, the test taker
can also be asked to draw all three drawings on the same page.
House Tree Person (HTP)
The Questions:
Ask questions after the drawing is complete:
1. Person
Who are these persons? Which one is male and which one is female? How old are they, what are their
relationships? Tell me about their mood in this picture, are they happy or sad? 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?
[If one person is drawn, same questions are asked for that one person]
2. House
Who lives here, are they happy? Are windows and doors closed or open? What goes on inside, do
people visit here, tell me about the atmosphere of the house, is it happy or sad? What else do the people
in the house what to add to the drawing?
3. Tree
What kind of tree is this? How old is it? Is it fresh or dead? What season is it, has anyone tried to cut it
down, what else grows nearby, who waters the tree? Tree needs sunshine to live so does it get enough
sunshine?
House Tree Person (HTP)
Instructions:
1. Keep the drawing and the manual side by side. Start reading the features of the drawings and
start noting down the indicators if the features match your drawing. But remember, the
features must be clearly indicated in your drawing for them to be considered. For example,
according to the manual, if a person draws a “keyhole” in his tree drawing, it means that the
person is hostile. So, if a clear hole has been indicated in your participant’s tree drawing,
only then this will be counted.

2.You have to analyze all three drawings according to the interpretation manual in the same
manner and keep noting down the indicators separately for each drawing. The answers to the
drawing’s questions offer additional evidence that help you understand your participants
clinical picture in more detail. For example, if the participant says that the tree does not
receive enough sunshine it means that the participant lacks support or love.
House Tree Person (HTP)
3. At some instances the tree is also considered as a fatherly figure and the house is
considered a motherly figure. From this point of view, the drawing interpretations can
also help you understand the participant’s relationships with his/her parents.

4. An important thing to remember is that HTP only can be used as an additional

evidence to support diagnosis along with a test battery. HTP alone only offers
tendencies or indicators. No final diagnosis is to be made on the basis of HTP
indicators.
House Tree Person (HTP)
HTP: Drawing/Qualitative Analysis
Drawings are interpreted using two “paths”; intra-subjective and inter-subjective
1. First path, intra-subjective, considers the content and quality of the three
drawings; also explores the depth of material behind the drawings
2. Second path, inter-subjective, considers features indicative of a certain
emotional tendency

Important aspects
3. Placement

4. Unnecessary part

5. Omission

6. Presser of pencil

7. Eraser
House Tree Person (HTP)
1. Placement:
• Drawing at top shows fantasy, mania

• Drawing on the mid shows normality

• Drawing on the bottom shows depression

• Drawing on the right side shows optimistic

• Drawing on the left side shows negative thinking

2. Unnecessary part:
• Lack of confidence

• Touchy

• Restlessness
House Tree Person (HTP)
The House
The drawing of the house tends to elicit connections regarding the examinees
home and the interpersonal dynamics being experienced within the family setting. The
house, it has been theorized, represents the place wherein affection and security are
sought.
Details
• Essentials (normal drawing) : At least one door, one window, one wall, a roof, a
chimney
• Irrelevant [e.g., shrubs, flowers, walkway]
• Needing to structure environment more completely: It is sometimes associated with
feeling of insecurity or needing to exercise control in interpersonal contact
House Tree Person (HTP)
1. Chimney
Symbol of warmth, intimate relations and sometimes associated with phallic
symbol of significance.
• Absence of chimney: Lacking psychological warmth or conflicts with
significant male figures
• Overly large: overemphasis on sexual concerns and / or possible
exhibitionistic tendencies.
• Smoke in much profusion: Inner tension
House Tree Person (HTP)
2. Door
• Above baseline, without steps: Interpersonal inaccessibility
• Absence of door: Extreme difficulty in allowing accessibility to others
• Open: Strong need to receive warmth from external world
• Very large: Overly dependent on others
• With lock or hinges: Defensiveness
House Tree Person (HTP)
3. Fence around house: Need for emotional protection
4. Gutters: Suspiciousness
5. Drawn on base of paper: Basic home or intimate insecurities
6. Perspective, from below: Either rejection of home or feelings of an unattainable
desirable home situation
7. Perspective, from above: Rejection of home situation
8. Roof
• Unidimensional [single line connecting two walls]: Unimaginative or emotionally
constricted
• Overly large: Seeks satisfaction in fantasy
House Tree Person (HTP)
9. Shutters
• Closed: Extremely defensiveness and withdrawal
• Open: Ability to make sensitive interpersonal adjustments
10. Walkway
• Very long: Lessened accessibility
• Narrow at house, broad at the end: Superficially friendly
11. Wall [adequacy of]: Directly associated to degree of ego strength
12. Window(s)
• Absence of window(s): Hostile or withdrawing
• Present on ground, absent from upper story: Gap between reality and fantasy
• With curtains: Reserved and controlled
• Bare: Behavior is mostly blunt and direct
House Tree Person (HTP)
The Tree
1. Extremely large tree: Aggressive tendencies
2. Tiny Tree: Inferior, feelings of insignificance
3. Faint lines: Feelings of inadequacy, infectiveness
4. Tree composed of just two lines for trunk and looped crown: Impulsive,
variable
5. Exaggerated emphasis on trunk: Emotional immaturity
6. Exaggerated emphasis on crown: Inhibited emotionally, analytical
7. Exaggerated emphasis on roots: Emotional responses shallow, reasoning limited
8. Scar, Knothole, Broken Branch: Associated with trauma, e.g., Accident, illness,
rape [time determination in relation to length of tree]
House Tree Person (HTP)
9. No ground line present, no roots: Repressed emotions
10. Shading, excessively dark or reinforced: Hostile defenses or aggressive
behaviors
11. Fine, broken lines: Overt anxiety
12. Knotholes: Sexual symbolism
• Small and simple: Sexual assault or initial sexual experience
• Outline reinforced: Shock impact greater
• Circles inside: Experience in the past and “healing”
• Blackened: Shame associated with experience
• Large: Preoccupation with procreation
• Small animal inside: Ambivalence surrounding childbearing
House Tree Person (HTP)
The Person
1. Arms
Used to change or control surrounding environment
• Fold over chest: Hostile or suspicious
• Held behind back: Wanting to control anger, interpersonal reluctance
• Omitted: Inadequacy, helplessness
2. Feet
Degree of interpersonal mobility
• Long: Striving for security or virility
• Tiny: Dependency, blunted feelings
• Omitted: Lack of independence
House Tree Person (HTP)
3. Fingers
• Long and spike like: Aggressive, hostile
• Enclosed by loop or single dimension: Wish to suppress aggressive
impulse
4. Head
• Large: Preoccupation with fantasy life, focus on mental life
• Small: Obsessive-compulsive, intellectual inadequacy
• Back to viewer: Paranoid or schizoid tendencies
House Tree Person (HTP)
5. Legs
• Absent: Constricted, possible castration anxiety
• Size difference: Mixed feelings regarding independence
• Long: Striving for autonomy
• Short: Emotional immobility
6. Mouth
• Overly emphasized: Immaturity, oral-aggressive
• Very large: Orally erotic
7. Shoulders
• Unequal: Emotionally unstable
• Large: Preoccupied with the perceived need for strength
• Squared: Overly defended, hostile towards others
House Tree Person (HTP)
Advantages:
• Good ice-breaker to use in preparation for other tests
• Good for engaging reluctant clients
• Used for any ages over 3
• Useful for non-verbal clients
• Useful for non-English speaking clients
House Tree Person (HTP)
Disadvantages:
• HTP although a widely used projective measure, does come with certain
disadvantages. Psychomotor difficulties such as physical handicaps or
tremulousness (geriatric patients) impede the analysis. Their personality expression
is held back by their motoric handicap.
• Patients with a lack of inner life, such as the schizoid patient, provide a barren
personality profile. These patients need something external to stimulate their
mental processes. However, if used appropriately according to the participant-test
fit, HTP has proven to be highly reliable and valid.