Impressions of Psychotherapists’ Offices: Do Therapists and Clients Agree?

Do therapists and potential clients similarly evaluate offices of practicing clinicians? Furnishings in a therapist’s office can create a welcoming environment, yet little research examines perceptions of such furnishings, leading to the focus of this research. In a previous study with 30 color photographs of psychotherapists’ offices, students favored clinical settings that were soft, personalized, and orderly (Nasar & Devlin, 2011). Using the same 30 photographs, the present studies had 32 licensed psychotherapists evaluate the quality of care, comfort in the setting, and therapist qualities they expected clients to experience in each office. The judgments that therapists thought clients would make had high correlations with the earlier judgments of students; each group’s composite evaluation improved significantly as the office became softer and more orderly. This brief report concludes by recommending the features likely to create a welcoming therapeutic office.