The HTP technique is commonly used in the assessment of children and adults. Theoretically, only seriously maladjusted individuals perceive the Tree drawing as dead; broken and dead branches are presumed to reflect traumatic experiences. In my clinical experience, I have found that maladjusted children, more often than the learning disabled or children who manifest behavioral disturbances, do perceive their Trees as dead. I have observed, further, that children who have lost a loved one through death frequently label a portion of the Tree as dead. This henomenon appears unrelated to age, sex, socioeconomic status, or race Whetfer it is a normal occurrence within the general population or a reflection of unresolved grief is a matter for further research.In a recent nationwide survey, Brown and McGuire (1976) found that the House-Tree-Person technique was commonly and frequently used in the psychological assessment of 3-to 15-year-old children. For 12 years, I have offered a graduate seminar in child projective drawings which incorporates supervised experience in the administration and interpretation of this instrument. The seminar is restricted to advanced school and child clinical psychology trainees. Trainees typically are assigned to the public schools or some other child-oriented community agency. They are expected to perform complete psychological assessments, including the HTP whenever appropriate, on children who are referred because of learning, behavioral, developmental, and other disturbances. Inevitably, some trainees assess the children of neighbors, friends, and relatives who, for all intents and purposes, are functioning normally. Thus, I have been able to accumulate case materials on normal and atypical children. Over the years,
Considering that death continues to be a taboo topic in most circles and that thanatology classes are relatively uncommon, what motivates anyone to choose voluntarily to confront the subject of death? Are such individuals unusually morbid? Have their experiences with death differed in some significant way from those of people in general? Are their attitudes and feelings about death significantly different from others? A 90-item questionnaire exploring death-related attitudes, feelings, experiences was administered to 82 thanatology students. Responses were compared to those given by Psychology Today readers to a similar questionnaire. Significant differences were found between the two groups which suggest areas for further research.
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