How the Coffee Table Throws Us Off...

I’m going to start off asking the hard questions, so fair warning!

Here goes: To coffee table or not to coffee table? Discuss.

Is the idea of creating the right therapeutic setting to trick your client into feeling like they’re in their own living room?  You’re going to hate my answer:  Maybe?  The truth is, it depends.  There’s an undeniable comfort, as a client, in setting your drink down on a low table just like you would at home or grabbing a tissue from a strategically placed decorative box awaiting your reach from a convenient distance that conveys familiarity. The coffee table could be the place where the client rests their EMDR devices or the workspace to launch your expressive arts activity.  Maybe your focus is on the family process and the table serves as a divider in the room, a means for structural interposition.

But the other side of this debate is psychoanalytic/attachment-based. This is the realm of anti-comfort, the space that exists between the client and therapist where vulnerability lives and intimacy is born. “Good therapy office design should take into account the human instinct to protect ourselves and our territory—a feature that may be particularly important to consider with vulnerable therapy clients” (DeAngelis, 2017). A table can be a prop that acts as a protecting agent or a shield to manage the uncomfortable, sensitive exchanges of the typical psychotherapeutic process. Without this physical and psychological barrier between the client and therapist, both parties must step into the work of the discomfort, which is arguably an important part of treatment.

The takeaway here is that each design decision in the room holds meaning, including our decisions about old friend the coffee table. The coffee table “to-be-or-not-to be” decision rests upon the delicate and dynamic balance between defense and confrontation. As psychotherapists, we want to convey in each client session that it’s okay to be their most authentic selves in session and that we will hold the space with them through the entire journey, as difficult as it may be. When established with intention, the interior design of an office can play a significant therapeutic role.

So whether you’re deciding on the right table for your space or going table-free, the choice simply depends upon the experience you’re seeking to create and the orientation and style of your practice.

Reference:
DeAngelis, T. (2017). Healing by Design. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/03/healing-design.