Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!-Chapter 96 - 95 House Tree Person Drawing Test

House-Tree-Person test (HTP), also known as "House-Tree-Person test", abbreviated as "HTP".

In this test, the consultant gives the visitor a pen, eraser, and paper, asking them to draw a picture on white paper with the themes of "house," "tree," and "person." Then, based on certain standards, the drawings are analyzed, evaluated, and interpreted to understand the visitor’s inner world.

Similar to the sand box therapy method that Nan Zhubin commonly uses, House-Tree-Person is also a type of projective test belonging to the psychoanalytic school, aimed at exploring the visitor’s subconscious.

Utilizing House-Tree-Person, visitors can present their thoughts, which they cannot describe in words, or even those they have not yet realized, in the form of drawings, offering the consultant a more direct perception and judgment.

Of course, the House-Tree-Person test shares the common flaws of projective tests—compared to scale tests, they cannot provide objective and absolute scores, and different consultants give their interpretations of the same picture based on their own level and school of thought.

The consultation results are thus less rigorous and may vary widely.

However, for Li Minglu and Nan Zhubin at present, this testing method is quite applicable.

Li Minglu first expressed his doubts, glancing at the clock on the wall: "...Ah, do we need to do a new test? Will the time..."

It seems he is very familiar with the system of psychological consultation, even timing it himself.

Nan Zhubin shook his head: "Don’t worry, this is an additional test I added myself, it doesn’t take up consultation time, just think of it as doing me a favor."

Nan Zhubin said this to avoid causing a psychological burden for Li Minglu. In fact, this is the first advantage of the House-Tree-Person drawing test—it saves time.

"No, no." Li Minglu quickly said, "I’m not afraid of taking up consultation time; I’m afraid of going overtime and making you work extra hours..."

Nan Zhubin smiled: "Don’t worry, it won’t."

This is the first reason.

Then Nan Zhubin continued to elaborate: "Secondly, you’ve already done so many scales, and although doing the same scale repeatedly allows for a detailed observation of your overall changes during the consultation process, having done it so often, I imagine you’ve become quite skilled at it, right?"

Li Minglu pulled at the corners of his mouth, forming a smile as a reaction to what Nan Zhubin said—even though he might not know how to react, he chose the socially expected smile.

Nan Zhubin noticed this and continued without addressing it: "So we need to do a fresher test to obtain fresher results."

This was Nan Zhubin’s second consideration—just like when Nan Zhubin takes scales and subconsciously controls the scores, when Li Minglu repeatedly does the same scale test, too many unforeseen variables like "proficiency" and "time span" are introduced.

This would greatly reduce the reliability and validity of Li Minglu’s scale measurement scores.

In such a case, introducing a new test, even if it is simple, could yield more effective results.

"Lastly, those psychological scales you did before are all directed and purposeful. Although the House-Tree-Person drawing also has thematic requirements, what you express is free."

Nan Zhubin emphasized: "I hope to see your free creative expression."

Li Minglu blinked and pressed his lips together.

Li Minglu mentioned hating drawing during his depressive episodes.

But at this moment, Nan Zhubin noticed Li Minglu’s eyes brightened a bit.

This emotional fluctuation is a precious and usable piece of information, an unexpected gain.

Nodding slightly in his heart, Nan Zhubin proactively handed over paper and pen, saying: "Shall we start?"

"Alright."

Li Minglu skillfully took the pen.

He first experienced a slight distraction, in the process of planning.

Then his eyes quickly focused, using the pen to delineate areas on the paper, working with his fingers to divide the space.

In Nan Zhubin’s view, Li Minglu started by placing the pen in the center of the paper, and from there outlined a house occupying about a quarter of the paper’s area.

The surroundings of the house were devoid of unnecessary patterns and decorations, but the lines were quite smooth, presenting a simple and harmonious feeling.

There was a large door, two windows, and a small chimney.

Smoke was coming out of the chimney.

After finishing the house drawing, even though only a short time had passed, Li Minglu seemed as if his thoughts were exhausted, falling into contemplation.

Then he looked up at Nan Zhubin: "Draw a house, tree, and person?"

Nan Zhubin nodded: "Yes."

Li Minglu thought for a moment and rubbed the pencil’s shaft.

Then the pencil tip fell to the right side of the house, finely drawing a small tree.

The tree resembled a decorative tree in appearance, only a quarter of the house’s height, and Li Minglu depicted quite a number of details such as the bark and even leaves, adding parts of roots above the soil.

At that instant, Nan Zhubin had a feeling that the details of the tree and the house were so richly embellished that they appeared somewhat jarring, as if a renowned painter’s work and a child’s work had been forcibly mixed together, completely unrelated in style, and not even appearing to be on the same layer.

Li Minglu began running out of inspiration again, looking up he asked: "After drawing the house and tree, still need to draw a person?"

Faced with Li Minglu’s second question, Nan Zhubin remained concise: "Yes."

This time, Li Minglu didn’t think for long and directly drew a stick figure under the tree to conclude.

The style of this stick figure was quite consistent with the background’s style.

But it also contrasted even more sharply with the house and tree next to it.

"Finished." Li Minglu said.

Goodness.

In the House-Tree-Person drawing test, Li Minglu really just drew a house, a tree, and a person.

The entire paper still had large blanks.

If not counting the largest house, the tree and person together occupied less than one-tenth of the paper’s area.

Nan Zhubin directly asked: "Nothing else you want to draw?"

Li Minglu explained: "When I normally draw, I would use some formulas and references to enrich the details of the drawing, to make it look more complete, and also better... for sale."

"But you just said to draw what comes to mind, and you mentioned house, tree, person, so that’s all I thought of in that moment."

Li Minglu looked up at Nan Zhubin, as if he had done something wrong, tentatively asking: "Should I draw a bit more, to make the drawing look nicer?"

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