Use of the House-Tree-Person Projective Drawings and Parental Styles Inventory in the Global Psychological Evaluation of Transgender Youth Who Seek Healthcare at the Gender Identity Program

Abstract

The present study explores data collected in the psychological evaluation of transgender youth and their families who seek healthcare at the Gender Identity Program. Great psychosocial changes mark the transition from infancy to adulthood. Transgender youth may have these aspects of their developmental stage potentialized. A study was conducted with 23 transgender youth (mean age = 14 ± 2.38 years) and their caregivers. Eleven of the youngsters were assigned male at birth, while 12 were assigned female. The research protocol consisted of a survey and systematization of the data collected in the initial global psychological evaluation performed at the healthcare facility, including house-tree-person (HTP) projective drawings and the parental styles inventory. The present study aimed to explore the data collected during the psychological evaluation of youngsters diagnosed with gender incongruence, relating the HTP projective drawing technique to parental styles and gender trajectories. The results indicate two key points. One evidenced that parental styles could be either preventive or risk components in maintaining adequate socialization in these young people but not in affecting the level of gender dysphoria. The other was that coherence is introduced in the person’s perception of his or her projected self-image and his or her expressed gender as he/she becomes more comfortable in expressing his/her gender identity. Treating youngsters inherently brings ethical issues to clinical practice. Thus, global psychological evaluation tailored to this population is a fundamental resource that the psychology professional can use in consultations with youngsters because this tool brings a global understanding about the natural development cycle, facilitating the formulation of therapeutic conducts and exchanges within interdisciplinary transgender health care teams.

Characteristics of House-Tree-Person Drawing Test in Junior High School Students with Depressive Symptoms

“…The house-tree-person drawing test (HTP) is one kind of projective drawing test that uses the objective drawing technique of a house, a tree, and a person to obtain information about the emotional contents of perception, level of functioning, and interaction with the environment of individuals (Soll et al, 2019). Selby et al proposed that HTP applies to typically resistant populations, such as adolescents, for psychological concerns (Conrad et al, 2011).…”

“…Up to date, numerous studies have been conducted to extend HTP to individuals with psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety (Li et al, 2014; Sheng et al, 2019), youngsters with gender incongruence (Soll et al, 2019) and individuals affected by disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes (Roysircar et al, 2019; Wang et al, 2010), demonstrating that HTP has a good ability to distinguish between normal and pathological conditions. Furthermore, studies have found that certain drawing characteristics of HTP are associated with depression.…”

Uso e Interpretação do Desenho Infantil na Prática Clínica

“…11 Constitui também um indicador de perturbações internalizantes, de identidade de género e do comportamento alimentar. 11,12 A figura humana, na maioria das vezes, representa a própria criança ou as pessoas importantes à sua volta. 3,11,12 Existem alguns indicadores no desenho da figura humana que podem revelar experiências de abuso físico ou sexual.…”

“…11,12 A figura humana, na maioria das vezes, representa a própria criança ou as pessoas importantes à sua volta. 3,11,12 Existem alguns indicadores no desenho da figura humana que podem revelar experiências de abuso físico ou sexual. A presença de partes do corpo exageradas ou realçadas, como mãos, ombros, nariz com narinas salientes, sobrancelhas, orelhas duplas ou salientes e a presença de dentes estão muitas vezes associadas a hostilidade e agressividade, e podem indiciar abuso físico.…”

“…Devem ser alvo de atenção os elementos hipersexualizados projetados nos desenhos manifestados de forma não isolada. 5,6,11,12 Em conclusão, o desenho infantil, enquanto expressão do mundo interno da criança, permite aceder aos seus processos afetivos e cognitivos. Salienta-se a sua extrema importância na prática clínica pediátrica, constituindo um modo de comunicação, avaliação e intervenção facilmente disponível e naturalmente prazerosa.…”