House / Tree / Person Test

The house/tree/person test is a projective test based on

the graphic technique of drawing, through which we can achieve
a global assessment of the person's personality, their
mood, emotional, etc. The creation of drawings is
a form of symbolic language that helps to express
quite unconsciously the most intimate traits of our
personality.

With the drawings we recreate how to see ourselves.

ourselves, as well as the way that truly us
I would like to be. Each drawing constitutes a projective self-portrait to
different level: with the drawing of the person we create a
self-image very close to consciousness, including the
defense mechanisms we use in everyday life. In
in the one at home we project our family situation and in the one of
tree the deepest concept of our Self.

It is a very valuable test because it can be applied to

people of all ages, from children to adults.

The HTP test can determine various aspects of the

personality and mood:

The drawings are an expression of what the subject feels. The

the realization of drawings constitutes one of the many forms of
symbolic language, which mobilizes relatively primitive levels of
the personality. People tend to express in their drawings, to
sometimes quite unconsciously and sometimes involuntarily,
a vision of themselves as they are or as they would like to be. The
H.T.P. (house-tree-person) that is, the test of the house, tree, and the person
persona is one of the most widely used projective techniques in the
diagnostic process as a complement to objective tests
(psychometrics). It is based on the human figure test of
Machover and in the Koch tree.

Each drawing constitutes a projective self-portrait at a different level.

The person is the image of ourselves closest to the
awareness for this reason is where most defense mechanisms are
you can appreciate. In the house, we projected the family situation and in the
tree the concept of Self deeper.

To correctly carry out this test, the drawing must be done on

a calm and relaxed environment, in which the person feels
comfortable, with appropriate lighting and in silence. Each drawing is made
about a blank sheet that is different and has no guidelines (sheets do not count)

squared), size DIN A4 or letter, only on one side and to be

possible with a pencil (no pens or markers) using underneath the
I have several sheets that can help with drawing. It is necessary to
do them at once, without getting up to perform other tasks while doing so
Make the drawing. You can use the eraser if you need to.

The procedure to follow is as follows:

• Take the first blank sheet and draw a house. You can
do it as you wish and take all the time you need.
• On the second sheet, draw a tree following the same
assignment.
• En otra hoja, dibuja una persona. No importa el sexo de la
same.
• On the last page, draw a person of the opposite sex to the
What did you draw earlier?

It is always preferable that you send us the original of the drawings by

ordinary mail, since some of them can be lost with the copy
the peculiarities of it and the analysis would not be so complete,
but if you wish, you can also scan it and attach it to your
request. The study details all personality traits,
capabilities and skills. It is important that you send us the sheets.
in the order you drew them, so you can number them in
the reverse.
PROJECTIVE TEST SUMMARY HTP
Projective technique

H.t.p

Tree house - person

A. HOUSE:

Ceiling.

It represents the vital area of fantasy. The mental life.

1.1. Excessively large roofs that extend to the sides and

the house is too small. They represent patients immersed in the

fantasy and aspects of interpersonal contact (do not relate to the

world) possible schizophrenics, schizoid.

1.2. Pure ceiling. A predominantly fantasized existence.

1.3. Absence of a ceiling or a single line.

1.3.1. Homeless. Absence of fantasy. It is characteristic of the

imbeciles, that is, a person who lacks the ability to dream and

fantasy, constrained personality, and with only one specific type of

orientation.

1.3.2. Ceilings with reinforced lines and under strong pressure. The

the person is defending themselves against the threat of their escape fantasy

control. For example, we find it in the presychotics and in fewer

degree in anxious neurotics.

2. WALLS.

They represent the strength of the self and personality.

2.1. Walls crumbling. The self disintegrating (psychotics

incipient
2.2. Weak outlines. Indicate collapse of personality and a

weak ego control, they are people who have stopped fighting.

2.3. Transparent walls. The criterion of the deteriorated reality is

when the objects inside the house are seen. When they are drawn by a

adult expresses profound deficiency and psychotics. When they draw it

Children lack maturity and understanding of reality.

3. DOOR.
It symbolizes contact with the environment.

3.1. Small door. It is a resistance to establish contact with the

environment, a detachment from social life or inability to

relate, point out shy people where there may have been
painful emotional relationships that the individual does not wish to experience

again.

You can also express the same with a door above the

base line of the house and without steps to exit is characteristic of

people who only establish contact with the environment within their

own terms.

3.2. Very large doors. It is characteristic of people with a

excessive dependence on others.

3.3. Open doors. People with a great thirst for emotional affection and

he expects to receive it from outside.

3.4. Empty house with open doors. Indicates extreme vulnerability and

lack of adequacy of the ego defenses.

3.5. Locks and hinges. They show defensive sensitivity.

(paranoid)
4. WINDOWS.

The meaning is the same as that of the door.

4.1. Closed windows adding blinds and curtains. They express the

extreme need not to interact with others.

4.2. When the windows have blinds or curtains but are

open or partially open. Indicates that people act in the

controlled environment (touch in social relationships).

4.3. Bare windows without blinds or curtains, nor hinges or

even shaded. They reflect people interacting with their

environment in a very rude, harsh, and direct manner (without social tact,

they cause trouble)

4.4. Unaligned windows on the same wall or in relation to the

next wall. Reveals a lack of organization and formality (ways

early schizophrenia.

5. CHIMNEY.

5.1. Smoke from the chimney.

5.1.1. Dense smoke. Significant internal attention, situations

difficulties at home or in both things.

5.1.2. The smoke drifts significantly to one side as if there was a

very strong wind. Represents environmental pressures. In cases

children difficulty in reading.

6. PERSPECTIVE WITH WHICH THE HOUSE IS VIEWED.

6.1. As if the house could be seen from above and looked down upon it.

They are people who reject the home situation and the values that
there they preach, have feelings of superiority, attitudes of

rebellion against the traditional values taught at home.

6.2. Worm's eye view, as if looking up from below

above. People who feel rejected and inferior in the

family situation, they have feelings of undervaluation and a low

self-esteem and feel that they would not achieve domestic happiness.

6.3. When the house has a distant far-off perspective of the

observer.

6.3.1. They project an image of themselves in the house. Feeling of

isolation.

6.3.2. They convey their perception of the family situation and

they feel unable to face. They feel it is impossible

feel comfortable with those they live with.

7. GROUND LINES.

Reveals the degree of contact with reality. It applies to

house/tree/person.

7.1. Weak line of the ground cut or drawn sporadically is

type of schizophrenics.

8. ACCESSORIES.

They include those drawings that are not part of the assignment, which is

specifically draw a house (surrounded by bushes, trees,

paths, etc.)

8.1. Path (road)

8.1.1. Sendereo that leads to the well-proportioned door and

done with ease. Individuals who exercise certain control and tact
in their relationships.

8.1.2. Long and winding path. Individuals in their relationships

social interactions remain distant but sometimes establish

true bonds are slow and cautious to make friendships,

but once the relationship develops, it has a great

quality.

8.1.3. Path that leads in a straight line to the door and that is

wide at the entrance and wider as it approaches the

door. It reveals an attempt to disguise a superficial friendship. (basic

of isolation).

8.2. Fences.

Around the house constitute a defensive maneuver.

Summary.

The house represents the following fundamental entities.

The image of oneself with its corresponding elements:

A. Area of fantasy.

B. The I.

C. Contact with reality.

D. Accessibility.

E. Oral predominance.

F. Anal predominance.

G. Phallic dominance.

2. The perception of the family situation. Past, present, or future

desired, or any combination of the three.

B. TREE.

The drawing of the tree is captured completely as.

a. Harmony.
b. Restlessness or emptiness.

c. Lack or abundance.

Hostility.

It reflects your psychological life history.

TRUNK OF THE TREE.

Basic strength of personality.

1.1. Very reinforced peripheral lines. They reveal the need for

maintain your integrity, reinforcement is a defense.

1.2. Weak lines outlined or dotted.

Fear of the collapse of personality or loss of identity.

There is no longer any hope, the collapse is evident.

Acute anxiety.
1.3. Drawings on the tree trunk and animals.

Internally they feel that a segment of their personality is

out of control, (dissociated).

Potentially destructive.

Obsessive feelings of guilt.

1.3.1. One identifies with the animal instead of the tree.

Regressive feelings due to a withdrawn, warm inner existence,

protected.

2. ROOTS OF THE TREE.

2.1. Exaggeration of roots.

excessive worry about making contact with reality.

2.2. Roots that can be seen through the soil.

Deterioration of the criterion of reality.

2.3. Tree with an ene base. Edge of the paper.

Insecurity, maladaptation.

Depression. (they draw weak lines, or the weeping willow)

3. THE BRANCHES OF THE TREE.

Represents the resources available to obtain

satisfactions of the environment, to extend towards others.

3.1. Broken branches.

Without hope of success.

3.2. High and barren branches that extend upwards and less towards

the sides.

Fear of seeking satisfaction in the environment.

They take refuge more than necessary in fantasy.

Possible introversion or schizoid.

3.3. Branches that extend laterally upward and outward.

Greater balance.

3.4. Accentuation of the branches upward but that exceeds the

sheet limits.

immersion in fantasy. Possible manifest or latent schizophrenia

development.

3.5. Unidirectional branches that do not form structure and

inadequately linked to a one-dimensional trunk (segmentation)

Indicates organicity. Physical damage to some part of the body.

especially check the brain.

Helplessness and futility (anger).

Lack of ego strength.

Poor integration.

Inadaptation.

3.6. Flexibility of branch structure (from the thickest to the

finer) and that is related to the trunk.

satisfaction in their environment.

3.7. Sticks or spears with sharp tips or like spikes.

Intense hostile and aggressive impulses. (If not corresponding with the

appearance of the person, ensures a surface fit achieved with

repressive efforts that result in internal tension.

2D branches open at the distal end.

· Poor impulse control. Possible schizophrenia.

3.9. Branches that look like penises.

Sexual concerns.

Those who fight for the search for virility.

3.10. Broken or cut branches.

Feeling traumatized and forming an internal unit

complete.

Feelings of castration (inadaptation, uselessness, extreme

passivity, lack of virility to the point of impotence

3.11. The trunk is truncated and small branches grow from the end.

The core of the self is damaged.

3.12. When the branches, instead of directing themselves towards the environment, it

they move centripetally towards the tree.

Strong egocentrism, tendency towards introversion.

(obsessive/compulsive)

3.13. Very large branches on a relatively small trunk.

Exaggerated concern for the pursuit of satisfactions.

3.14. The opposite: the structure of the branches very small and the trunk

excessively large.

Experimentation of frustrations due to inability to

satisfy urgent basic needs.

Branches extending towards the sun.

Need for affection frustrated. (regularly in children)

3.16. Tree that leans away from a great sun that is at

short distance from him.

Try to distance yourself from the domination of any parental figure.

(parents) or any type of authority, because they feel

painfully controlled, subjugated, maladjusted.

3.17. Secondary branches. They are drawn as spikes and are inserted into

the primary branches (these small branches seem to burrow into the

larger branches instead of growing from them.

Masochistic trends.
3.18. The ends of the branches wrapped with circles like clouds.

The roughness of the branch wrapped in a cotton pad.

Predominantly punitive.
They do not unload their aggression either internally or externally, the inhibition.

it prevents it.

2. Pleasant and ungracious ways of speaking.

4. LOCK TREE. The trunk and foliage are drawn with a

continuous line, with no separation between the crown and the trunk.

Oppositional and negative individuals.

They do the least possible.

5. DISASSOCIATED TREE. Lateral lines of the trunk do not connect

among them; they extend upwards, each forming its own

independent structure branch. It gives the impression of a tree

divided in two.

Breakdown of personality.

Dissociation.

Collapse of the defenses.

Danger of internal impulses becoming present in life

real.

Schizophrenia.

6. TOPICS.

6.1. Falcon hovering over the treetop.

Sense of condemnation.

6.2. Tree urinated on by a dog.

Sense of degradation
.

6.3. Destruction of the tree by ax blows.

Feeling of body mutilation.

6.4. Pregnant women. They draw fruit trees.

6.5. Depressive. They draw weeping willows.

6.6. Children from kindergarten and excessively up to 14 years old, draw

apple trees,

The fruits are the child.

The tree is the maternal figure.

If the apple detaches or falls. They feel rejected.

7. AGE OF THE TREE.

7.1. In adults.

If they draw small sprouts, they are feelings of immaturity.

8. DEAD TREE.

Severe cases that have lost hope.

Poor adjustment.

Schizophrenics.

Depressed.

Neurotics.

Psychological patients.

Severe pathology.

8.1. Who caused the death?

8.1.1. External things. It blames the environment for its difficulties.

8.1.2. Internal things of the tree. They are considered harmful and unacceptable.

8.1.3. Rotten from the inside. Deep pathology.

8.1.4. How long has he been dead? Indicate the duration of his

own mismatch.

C. PERSONA

motivates three types of themes:

Self-portrait.

The ideal of the self.

3. And representation of significant people (parents, siblings, etc.)

3.1. SELF-PORTRAIT.

Reproduction of one's own physical traits as if one were

looking in a mirror.

They are done by people with an average IQ.

inferior.

It is rarely done by people who do not have a high IQ.

intellectual. C.1.

Note. Distinguish between the physical self and the psychological self.
Examples of drawings that express the psychological self or self-portrait

psychological

Sex offender.

Lemon tree.

Puppet.

Football doll.

Mannequin clothes (depersonalization).

Exhibitionist.

Clown.

Sitting in an armchair.

Narcissism. They stroke their hair and dance. (more in women)

Drawing of a rigidly erect profile, rigid lack of adaptation.

2. IDEAL OF THE SELF. WHAT THE SUBJECT FEELS HE IS.

Examples:

· Un boxeador con brazos de Hércules.

Pregnant woman ashamed of her belly. Draws a dancer.

flexible, agile and slim spinning weightlessly.

The teenagers:

Athletic muscles, swimsuits.

Adolescent girls. They draw movie actresses in dresses of

party.

Fat young people who draw slender ones.

3. REPRESENTATION OF SIGNIFICANT PERSONS.

Usually, children draw their parents.

3.1.1. It shows the importance of their parents in their lives whether

father or mother.
3.1.2..The need for a model to identify oneself and incorporate it into

on SELF-CONCEPT.

3.1.3. Depending on who they draw (the father or the mother) constitutes

a prophetic data in a graphic retest will demonstrate that the child has

incorporated.

3.2. If adults draw their parents, they generally find themselves

managed by the past and have never achieved total

independence from parental control.

The projective drawings tend to reveal the felt self,

the ideal self, and the future self, except if there is intervention of

psychotherapeutic treatments or significant changes in the situation

environmental.

It is recommended to study chapter 4 about figure drawing.

human of Sydney Levy.

Bibliografía:

Emmanuel F. Hammer. Projective technique. House/Tree/Person.