Research on the application of tree drawing projection tests in the condition assessment of depression
Guorui Liu1,2,3, Jin Wang4, Guanxiong Li1
1Department of Medical Psychology, Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Objective:
This study aims to extract and quantitatively analyze the tree drawing projection indices from groups of patients with depression, patients in remission, and a normal control group, to explore characteristic indicators of tree drawing projections in individuals with depression and provide a potential basis for condition assessment of depression.
Methods:
Tree drawing tests were administered to 118 patients with depression, 114 patients in remission, and 118 normal controls. Computer image recognition and data collection were used for quantitative analysis of the tree projections, and statistical analysis was conducted on the results from the three groups.
Results:
ANOVA tests revealed significant statistical differences between the depression patients, remission patients, and normal controls in the following quantitative indices: canopy area, canopy height, canopy width, trunk area, trunk width, total area, and the ratio of canopy width to trunk width (p values: < 0.001, < 0.001, < 0.001, 0.003, < 0.001, 0.004, < 0.001). No significant differences were found in trunk height, root width, root height, root area, total height, the ratio of canopy height to trunk height, and the ratio of canopy area to trunk area. Further LSD-t and Tukey HSD tests showed that compared to the depression group, the remission group exhibited significant differences in canopy area, canopy height, canopy width, trunk area, trunk width, the ratio of canopy width to trunk width, and total area (p values: 0.001, < 0.001, 0.009, 0.002, < 0.001, 0.007, < 0.001). No significant differences were found in the other indices; also, no significant differences were found between the remission group and the normal control group across all 14 indices.
Conclusion:
There are seven quantitative indices where significant statistical differences exist among the tree drawings from the depression group, the remission group, and the normal control group, and seven indices where no significant differences were found. In this study, the quantitative indices of tree drawing projections have value in differentiating between the depression group, the remission group, and the healthy control group.
