House–Tree–Person drawing therapy as an intervention for prisoners’ prerelease anxiety

We examined the feasibility of using the House–Tree–Person Test as an intervention to reduce prisoners’ prerelease anxiety, and tested its effectiveness. In the first phase, 15 prison officers completed the other-evaluation Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) individually and 105 male prisoners completed the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) in groups. After screening, 72 of the prisoners who would be released within the next 2 to 6 months were selected as participants. Then, a quasiexperimental design was applied and 36 participants completed the House–Tree–Person Test 10 times over a period of 5 weeks. The results of quantitative analysis indicated that, during the prerelease period, more than 80% of prisoners had suffered from anxiety at some level. More important, in the posttest the total HAM-A and standard SAS scores for the prisoners in the experimental group were both significantly lower than their scores in the pretest. On the contrary, the total score on the HAM-A for the prisoners in the control group in the posttest was significantly higher than their score in the pretest. Simultaneously, the result of qualitative analysis of 2 of a prisoner’s drawings, especially the positive change in house structure, the increasing number of trees, the clarity of the self-image, and the appearance of significant others, also indicated that his anxiety level had reduced.