That is an excellent question, as it is well understood by clinicians and patients themselves that the ED environment in itself is not conducive to promoting recovery for mental health patients, largely due to its high stimulus and sensory input nature. In Australia long wait times for ward beds are generally becoming the norm, and patients can be left for days in the ED, and ward environments (especially PICU's) are ideally designed for calming environments (though unfortunately this is not always the outcome) , so one would think that colour selection would also play a role in that. I saw a documentary about a Swedish mental health hospital designed for eating disorder patients that found a link with improved outcomes for their patients when they were in highly controlled environments that consisted of soft lighting, room temperature modulation around 26 degrees celsius, and soft colours within their accommodated rooms.

There has been a new hospital in Sydney specifically looking at colours etc and this was designed with patients in mind.. It was named after a recent governor general.. Marie Bashir..the people involved may be abel to give you advice..

also... just an antidote..where I work, we have found that colours are also interpreted differently by many of those on the Autistic spectrum.. compared to those who are not.. so yellow ... often seen as happy or blue as calm..may not be for those on spectrum.

green & blue 

Dear Michael,

Popular symbolism:

"Green

Currently the most popular decorating color, green symbolizes nature. It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision. It is a calming, refreshing color. People waiting to appear on TV sit in "green rooms" to relax. Hospitals often use green because it relaxes patients. Brides in the Middle Ages wore green to symbolize fertility. Dark green is masculine, conservative, and implies wealth. However, seamstresses often refuse to use green thread on the eve of a fashion show for fear it will bring bad luck.

Brown

Solid, reliable brown is the color of earth and is abundant in nature. Light brown implies genuineness while dark brown is similar to wood or leather. Brown can also be sad and wistful. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors."

Read more: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html#ixzz3NHlGDnvv

I would suggest green and brown. Green is traditionally associated with medicine, The serpent in the Bible to which people should look for heeling was green. Brown is for some persons boring but thrustworty color. With shades of brown reflecting a neutral earthy milieu you are bound to succeed in interior decoration.

The degree of color saturation of these colors should be the same on both doors.

Thanks for the thoughts,

I appreciate the symbolism info Beatrice. 

Kymbra, that is exactly my fear.  We bed children, people coming off meth and alcohol, folks actively psychotic as well as the very quiet young women who just tried to cut her own throat.  We need to make sure we are neutral as possible.  Unfortunately, in health care, we create systems that rule the masses and often miss out on the inconvenient fact that all humans are unique individuals.  I'll try to contact Charles Sturt University.

We have to predict how it will look.  Mentally translating a color tile into how it will look on a door or in a room is more difficult than it sounds.  And, since this will be there for years, I would hate to choose wrong . . . 

We have to think beyond the simple :"color" but shade and intensity as well.  We are thinking of "cool" (as Matthew says, soft) colors; in particular some mixture of green and blue perhaps what I've seen referred to as "sea foam green" which I understand to be in the "teal" family.

I was hoping to read a study specifically on ED holding rooms.  I attached a very simply discussion on our rooms and what we would like to do in order to move away from the correctional decor and into something that communicates care.

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/tealblast

Soft, pastel colors, we need all the rainbow colours.

Believe it or not, studies here in the US have found pink to be particularly good in calming people in agitated circumstances.  Hospitals, prisons, ED are all being done in shades of pink and there was even a study at my University that ran for 3 years which indicated that using pink lighting was more restful on tired eyes spending too much time on computers etc.  The results were so significant that they changed all the lighting in our Psychology building and still use pink lighting.  I use it in my home as well and strangely enough it works.  It also lends a nice healthy glow so people don't look so wan.

I think the glow of pink or at least a soft tone of red, as far as light goes, is probably comforting.  If you think of this in a naturalized environment, such as the great shades of red in a sunset or sunrise, there is a calming effect.  As far as painting our doors pink, I'm not sure the team would go for that. 

We are covering the fluorescent lights with photographic film of blue sky and clouds to provide a faux skylight.  I have heard of lighting that is capable of changing colors and intensity.  That is an improvement we have discussed.  With no windows in these rooms, they are about as far from a “normalized” environment as possible, and that is the condition we desire to improve upon

Red is always activating and the after effect when your receptors in retina get tired is a result of firiring receptors close to red i.e. green. When you have gazed on a red or pink door and you turn your head towards a neutral gray door you will see shades of green. When you gaze at yellow your receptors get tired and will signal blue after a while and so on. This means in order to get a good interior you have to decide what color you want to make stronger by adding a bit of the oppopsite color. If you want to make a color weaker add mor and different shades of the same color. This is what was taugth in art school. When we were young our father took us in Stockholm to the Christmas celebration for patients in a forensic ward, There was a big bright red carpet which was supposesd to be calming for the internists at that time.

Nowaday the psychology of colors tells us that "Green strikes the eye in such a way as to require no adjustment whatever and is, therefore, restful. Being in the centre of the spectrum, it is the colour of balance - a more important concept than many people realise. When the world about us contains plenty of green, this indicates the presence of water, and little danger of famine, so we are reassured by green, on a primitive level. Negatively, it can indicate stagnation and, incorrectly used, will be perceived as being too bland." http://www.colour-affects.co.uk/psychological-properties-of-colours

Thanks for the thought Joanne. 

We have a white room and it has been described as feeling like being in "Willy Wanka's basement laboratory."  We are changing the lighting by using photographic film over the lights that is a picture of clouds and blue sky. Althought I do like the LED systems I've seen.

The wall material prevent painting so we are only painting the door, door and window frame.

I have to agree with the previous comments.  Light colours on the walls with a stronger colour for the doors.  Make doors' colour consistent   i.e. all bedrooms the same such as a warm colour, or themes such as blue for the  loo  (sorry loo is the informal term used by many Brits for the toilet/lavatory)  a soft red for bed etc etc.   Not multiple colour as they can cause visual  disturbances and nothing too flashy also it tends to date a building.  So basically light, constant and cheerful!!!

If you focus of a calming effect of the color you have to study psychological experiments where they were put to test. Subjective speculation originates from our childhood when a certain color - on e.g. the Teddy bear  or the like - still plays a role back in the brain

Thank you for the literature Mr. Seng and thoughts Mr. Berry. 

My interest is in both the initial response of a person who sees these rooms for the first time and realizes where he is going.  This is a similar phenomena to a passenger entering a commercial aircraft.  There is a moment of anxiety as they make a rapid association between the confined and uninviting appearance of the aircraft entrance to the looming danger of being confined and without control.

The second part is the phenomena experienced by the patient after they have been admitted and are now confined to that room.  Color can influence perception. 

I wonder if there are studies that are specific to the initial perception of entering a new milieu through a doorway and the effects of color?  No aircraft I have seen considers this.

My epic struggle with the facilities department restricting our redesign has been stimulating.

Here you have a study specific about  the initial perception of pink, suggested by some here:

British Journal of Developmental Psychology (2011), 29, 656–667

Pretty in pink: The early development of gender-stereotyped colour preferences

Vanessa LoBue and Judy S. DeLoache (e-mail: [email protected])

Experiment 1 showed, by the age of 2.5, girls have developed a significant preference for pink over other colours. At the same time that young girls display an increasing preference for pink, boys show an increasing avoidance of pink. At the age of 2, boys choose pinksignificantly less often than girls do. Experiment 2 builds on this finding and shows that by 2.5, boys display a strong avoidance of pink, choosing it at a rate significantly below chance. This result was especially pronounced at ages 4 and 5. Thus, the familiar attraction that girls have shown to pink begins in the second year and is paralleled by a tendency for boys to avoid pink.

As a child I hated a certain shade of green. I still do not stand it. In case this shade was on your door I would automatically avoid it. This is not a question where you can give your subjective feelings without real studies.

Good words Béatrice.   

Our organization requires rigid color schemes and the first respose for painting any door was gun metal grey--no other options.  Then they relented and sent 5 shades of dark green which either looked a lot like grey with some green in it or simply military olive drab.  None promoted invitation if someone is approaching a doorway.  We are struggling what we can use and what we should use. 

Lavender (the herb) has been shown to have calming effects on children at night time. Now modern designers are using the color extensively in designing bedrooms to exude an atmosphere of serenity in the bedroom of adults.  The paint distributor company Behr makes a color called "Calm Retreat" which is a very light Lavender. Depending on the lighting in the room, it changes color variations;but in any case it is very subtle and a wonderfully calming shade appropriate for doors and offices.