Design on My Mind

Psychology as design tool.

by Toby Israel, Ph.D.

The Road to Wellness: A Journey via Design Psychology

The road to wellness can be a winding one. I should know. Five years ago I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Faced with a good prognosis, I began my treatment journey. En route, I discovered a whole new path to using Design Psychology as part of the therapeutic process. Read More

Transcendental Sound, Space and the Healing Lightness of Being

"Urban" "Zen": These two words may seem contradictory until you visit fashion designer Donna Karan's serene living room-like setting tucked blissfully above her Greenwich Village Urban Zen Center. Read More

Healing with Imagery: The Brain's Own Natural Bag of Visual Tricks

Ten years ago, while walking down the stairs, my daughter fell ten steps, hit her head on a sharp edge and landed bleeding and twisted on the floor. She then convulsed and foamed at the mouth. Thank God she woke in the hospital and, remarkably, was just fine. I wasn't. For days afterward my mind kept replaying this horrific scene. Read More

The Military's Brave New World-Class Hospitals

The Military's Epidaurus Project on Patient-centered Care and Design is soon to be full-born. Read More

Healing Oasis by Design . . . Probing the Mystery

Can the transformative powers of healing oases be carefully studied and applied? Read More

A Healing Home for Santa and Her Helpers

Especially during holiday times, is it possible to create rooms that encourage us to gather, allow us to 'escape,' and may even help heal old wounds? Read More

The Incredible 'Shrinking' Office

Every therapist's space provides the backdrop against which clients' personal dramas will be revealed. Yet, psychologists receive little, if any, training about how to set an effective stage for the client-practitioner interplay. Read More

Freud's Office: Opium Den or Therapeutic Space?

Did Freud have ‘design on his mind', when he decorated his office? Did he consciously design it to be a therapeutic space? Besides his now iconic "lie down and tell me your problems" couch, what did patients see when they walked into Freud's office? Read More