apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Off-topic: thanks so much for the new slideshow functionality. It's great not to have to compulsively hit the back button to return to the front page after viewing the photos.

I'm with Bromelia; no matter what state I entered these offices in, I'd be screaming in moments from the clutter/pattern/color/item overload. So much for putting the patient or client into a calm frame of mind for emotional healing.

All of these seem to move away from the stark, cold, analytical feel of shrink offices. I'd feel much more at home knowing that I'm not talking to a robot!

I don't think that there is any clutter except maybe the first one.

Unless books are considered as clutter, in which case, it's a good reason to go see a shrink

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the new slideshow format. Much happiness in the AT universe today.

I agree that none of these particular offices is to my taste (although I can't help loving the first one for just existing). What I do love is their non-clinical, individualistic approach. That's all.

I am with flobo sounds like you guys should see a professional to deal to with clutter phobia. neurotic much?

I laughed recently after reading that Freud had no theories about obsessive collecting, which he himself began to do after his father died. Funny to see other psychologists doing the same with abandon.

i love the second one.

i don't think a shrink's office is supposed to look like a baren cell?

Good decorator does not = good therapist!
Comfortable environment does = good therapist for YOU!

Room
#3
#4
Would make me feel comfortable.

^^ barren even.

I laughed recently after reading that Freud had no theories about obsessive collecting, which he himself began to do after his father died.

I would not call Freud's collection obsessive, since he willingly parted with items from his collection - even beloved items - he gave them away to friends and colleagues. Obsessive collecting involves hoarding. There's been a great article by John Forrester on Freud's collecting in The Cultures of Collecting.

Love that second office.

I think the wallpaper in the first office supports my long-held suspicion that some folks go into the career of therapy for self-help!

Me, the time I saw a therapist (divorce related), I appreciated the matter-of-fact medical doctor's office look. Not fussy, not "cozy", the atmosphere kind of said "I take your problems seriously and we will work on them." (He wasn't that much help, but his office inspired confidence anyhow!)

gostei
very nice!

I like them! the first one wouldn't work for many people, but it feels kind of homey to me. I went to a freudian once and his office was very simple and boring. I would have liked trinkets and things to look at while discussing something uncomfortable. they can be conversation starters to help you get talking.

My pick is definitely Dr.Martin Bergmann's office...not only for the killer view - which is definitely a work of art in itself; and may I say I also like his personal style ~

While I think many ppl would no doubt be very comfy in Dr. Anni Bergman's office, I think I would be much too distracted and I'd have far too many questions...which maybe is the point? I don't know...

#3 maybe a bit dated for my taste. #4 very lovely, beautiful artwork.
A very interesting project.

I love the first one.

1) Yey on the new slideshow format!!!

2) The second one is great. Would love to lay on a couch in that room and spill my guts as it were.

SherryBinNH, that was funny - mean probably, but funny - and don't you know that psychanalysts are (officially) supposed to be attracted to psychoanalysis because of their own problems? (and of course their talent for it)
trikitixa & firebird thank you, that's an interesting subject to read about (but I thought collecting is covered by anal fixation, also having a similarity to stinginess).

The second office looks very comfortable and lived in - a nice environment if you are seeing a therapist.

I like all four, actually....photo 2 and 4 especially. All offices are homey and welcoming, not clinical, and I would feel comfortable in either one. It's interesting what each therapist collects and it reveals a lot about them......lol!

I like all four, actually....photos 2 and 4 especially. I would feel comfortable in either one. All are warm and homey, not clinical. It's interesting that each therapist' s collections reveal something about themselves....lol.

oops....sorry for the double post. I had trouble sending the first one, then retyped and sent the second.

Because this is a post specifically about Psychoanalysts, in my opinion the best clinicians in the country/world as well as the ones who seem to be dying off the fastest (in favor of major US universities and their falsely informed focus on "only empirically validated CBT treatments"), I'm compelled to jump in here.....

With regard to personality or design of the analyst's office. First, true psychoanalysis focuses on interpretation of dreams ("dreamwork"), uses the couch as a point of free-association hoping to gain access to a direct, unguided/undefended/unfiltered route into the unconscious (which is the reason that traditionally the couch points away from the analyst with the patient looking forward, and the rooms are kept more stark and minimally stimulating in their own right), interpretation of transference, and the interpretation of resistance and ego-defenses....... Traditional analysts are therapists who are there to bring the unconscious into the conscious. Injecting personality into an office, for a good analyst, potentially simply just introduces one more element around which a patient can demonstrate a variety of important interpretable responses.... e.g. resistance to treatment, transference of good/life feelings, transference of bad/death feelings, which a good analyst can and should and will jump at the opportunity to work with.

For the analyst, anything in the room, anything that is said, not said, done or not done is open for interpretation and important for the work.

In this example, let's say you walk into this analyst's office and you tell her that you hate her office because the patterns are soooooooo busy that you feel claustrophobic and the paintings would give you nightmares... Already, you have a starting point around what you hate about the analyst. PERFECT! Now, don't simply counter here and say, "wait! nobody said we hate the analyst - just her office" because an analyst might speculate or interpret that potentially you are finding a slightly less confrontational, safer way to tell her that you actually dislike her, not her office.

Another patient may walk into the same office and say that she like the office because it reminds her of her grandmother's house and that makes her feel comfortable and warm. PERFECT! Let's say you walk into another analyst's office and you tell him that you hate how it's so cold and clinical and impersonal - like you'd probably be talking to a robot. PERFECT! Another patient walks into the same cold office and says, "wow I like the Corbusier lounge that I'll be sitting in, my analyst has some great taste in design like me..." PERFECT!

The point is here, that all of these offices are great not because they seem to be "less clinical, cold" and more "personal," because trust me, analyst ARE clincal and calculating - they interpret EVERYTHING regardless of what their office looks like - a Philip Johnson Glass House or a Park Ave Classic 6. These offices (and all spaces, items, ambiguous stimuli in the therapeutic environment) are great because they allow for personality of the analyst, and all using that personality and the patient's reaction to it as a potential analytic object, without breaking or bending the frame of analysis.

-kellen

in some cases you might need to see a shrink to be able to deal with your therapist's office.

how about movie therapist's offices like "unmarried woman" and the split screen if offices in "annie hall"?

tulpoeid: You are completely right. Whoever I was reading was full of it.

I kind of like all of them. They look comfortable and welcoming. The first one reminds me of my grandma's home...but with a bit more clutter.

If your problems were of a depressive nature any of these would only increase them.

My mother was a psychoanalyst and her room was always very bare. 2 chairs, a bed, a small table and I think one or two pictures on the wall.
The rooms above are so cramped full I don't really see them working well for analysis.

I like the second one. The view of the sky is great, no distraction just mist or on a nice day blue sky. You can just talk your heart out and not see the boredom on the therapist's face. Nor does he/she need to read your face for the usual pained or angry expression. Aaaah, the joy of blathering to another lost soul.

all of these are scary!

There is so much clutter in all of these offices. I don't think I would enjoy my time in any of these.

The first one gave me an anxiety attack.
So. Much. Stuff.

If I had to spend a lot of time in the first room I'd better ready for therapy even if I didn't need it in the first place.

let start off by saying however the woman is with the long silver hair, i want that.. so wish me luck. the offices are so amazing. since one wants their client to feel safely comfortable. they are all done well. i love the one with the wallpaper chaise, and millions of things to feel shelter amidst.

I was visiting a psychiatrist friend in Lyon, France a number of years ago. During the grand tour of the city, we stopped at her office. It was understated and uncluttered. The most beautiful thing in the office was a print of a gracious, elegant floral watercolor resting on a full-sized easel, set close to the corner near a large window. It set the tone for the room - relaxed yet beautiful.