After only viewing photos of offices, study participants gave higher marks to psychotherapists whose offices were neat and orderly, decorated with soft touches like pillows and throw rugs, and which featured personal touches like diplomas and framed photos.

“People seem to agree on what the office of a good therapist would look like and, especially, what it wouldn’t look like,” said Jack Nasar, co-author of the study and professor of city and regional planning at Ohio State University.

The research involved several experiments in which people viewed 30 digital color photographs of actual psychotherapist offices in Manhattan. All were taken by photographer Saul Robbins as part of an artistic project, and he gave permission to the researchers to use the photographs in the study.

The photos showed a view of the therapist’s chair and surrounding office from the perspective of where the client would sit.

Altogether, 242 college students participated in the studies – about 60 percent of whom had seen a therapist themselves. The researchers found no difference in results between those who had seen a therapist and those who hadn’t, men and women, people of different ages, or residents of a small Northeastern town and residents of a large Midwestern city, suggesting the results are generalizable, Nasar said.

Participants said they would be more comfortable and expect better care in offices that had been rated as more orderly and that had more personal touches, such as a pillow, diplomas hanging on the wall or photos. They also thought more highly of therapists whose offices had a “softer” feel – those that had cushioned chairs, carpeting, table lamps, plants and throw rugs.

“The top-rated offices also pointed to the importance of softness and order,” Nasar said. “For the top five offices, participants most frequently described the office as comfortable, nice, clean, warm and inviting.”

Therapists who worked in the top five rated offices were also seen more favorably – more organized, professional, friendly, experienced -- than those in the bottom five offices.