How to 'Shrink' Your Shrink's Office

Shrink offers patients a way to decode their shrink's office and know more about your shrink through a free workshop by phone conference call offered by www.psychologyofsetting.com

Washington, DC (PRWEB) November 1, 2006 -- What happens when 13 psychiatrists agree to participate in a groundbreaking study of their offices? Their own secrets come tumbling out. Ever wonder what the pictures on a therapist's wall really mean or why patients get the "crummy" chair? From dead plants to hidden children, this fascinating study has people lining up to find out more.

Katherine Grace Morris, Ph.D. has done a groundbreaking study of psychiatrists' offices. Ever wonder what that picture on your therapist's wall meant or why you sat in the crummy chair even though you're the one who's paying? Want to know this and more about your shrink? Then join her for a free workshop by phone conference call on November 7th at 1 PM Eastern time to find out more. Contact via e-mail to sign up.

The study was a psychological examination of psychiatrists' office settings designed to uncover the unspoken messages conveyed by the furnishings and other items in the office and the way in which they are arranged. Katherine interviewed psychiatrists in their offices, using a protocol she developed to bring unconscious material to the fore, knowing that we all no longer "see" what we live with in our home and workspaces daily.

What was an elder psychoanalyst telling his patients by his consultory, which was tucked below street level, with iron-barred windows that looked out to a barren, cement courtyard? Might the treadmill sitting behind the chair of a psychotherapist be distracting or send a strange message to patients? What stories or myths did psychotherapists want their settings to tell—to themselves and/or to their patients?

There are plenty of telling signs in psychiatrists' offices, as well as psychotherapists offices, which Katherine also studies. For instance, she found that even though the psychiatrists no longer "saw" certain things, they still were affected by their presence as conveyed by the stories they told when they walked around their offices with Katherine and told her what came to mind as they gazed at each item. "The painting on the back wall came from an old girlfriend," and "desk chair came from his wife" [of 25 years]. "A crazy patient gave me that. I knew it was important to him to have it there, so I kept it," said one psychiatrist. "My grandfather gave me that. He was the one who kept me from being a sociopath," said another psychiatrist.

Do psychiatrists want patients to know this information? Judging from the fact that they rarely tell their patients, and the comments about feeling that their privacy was being invaded if a patient began asking questions about the things in the office, the conclusion is no, they don't want patients to know. Whether that affects the patient's ability to trust the psychiatrist or be forthcoming themselves is open to question.

Katherine Grace Morris, Ph.D. is a depth psychologist and a certified Feng Shui practitioner who founded Psychology of Setting Associates, LLC, www.psychologyofsetting.com located in Washington, D.C.

Contact Info:

Katherine Grace Morris, Ph.D., CEO Psychology of Setting Associates, LLC
2501 Porter Street, NW # 905
Washington, DC 20008
202 248 6810
www.psychologyofsetting.com

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