Whether it be anxiety over climate change, feelings of inadequacy brought on by social media, or just a general concern for the state of the world, one in four of us now suffer from mental health issues.
And while attention to this emerging mental health crisis is growing, two-thirds never seek any kind of care. With mental health problems now one of the leading causes of disability, finding effective ways to treat our minds is more important than ever.
Enter nature therapy, commonly known as ecotherapy and green care. Developed by the founder of the ecopsychology movement, Theodore Roszak, nature therapy is something of an umbrella term, encompassing a wide range of treatments all involving the individual interacting with natural spaces. This could be as simple as hiking through a forest or more social efforts such as farming or gardening.
The Theory
Informing the theory behind nature therapy is ecopsychology. Whereas traditional psychological approaches treat the individual in isolation, ecopsychology attempts to understand the relationship between the individual and the environment, studied as a whole.
By considering the person and their surroundings as a totality, psychologists hope to better understand the way different environments can affect our wellbeing.
Central to the discipline is the idea that humans are deeply connected to the earth and the self-righting systems of nature.
The consequence of this holistic idea is that if we remain alienated from these natural systems for too long – cut-off in our urban environments – it’s ultimately our mental wellbeing that suffers.
Therapists are therefore increasingly turning to nature as a way to remedy these mental health issues.
While definitions vary, nature therapy simply involves a structured activity in a natural environment.
These activities may be therapist-led and will often encourage social interaction. And, when a therapist is involved, they are typically indistinguishable from those being treated, participating fully in the activity themselves.
Notably, the focus of nature therapy is the activity itself rather than an attempt to get better or improve one’s health.
In this way, mental well-being comes about from harmonizing with natural systems, rather than a heavy-handed corralling of the psyche into improvement.
Types of Nature Therapy
With a wide variety of nature therapies, there is something for everyone, allowing anyone to help manage their mental health.
While each program or therapist will have their own recommendations, these are the most common forms of treatment:
Shinrin Yoku/Forest bathing. This is typically undertaken alone and involves a mindful walk through a forest setting. Unlike a ramble or hike, the aim is to convene with the forest itself, mindfully absorbing the natural environment through your senses.
Community horticulture. Through the use of allotments or shared land, growing with other people not only involves building a better relationship with nature but also with other people. By growing crops or tending to a garden together, you slow down to nature’s pace and reconnect with the natural processes and seasons that we are increasingly estranged from. And when it comes time to harvest, many groups choose to sell together at markets and other events, leading to strong social bonds that last.
Outdoor meditation. Performing meditative practices outdoors allows the mind to quieten enough to become receptive to the natural environment. Whereas the benefits of meditation are well-established, practicing outdoors enhances our connection to nature, allowing us to appreciate the natural cycles that appear before us, life, death, growth, and rebirth. As well as meditation, other practices can be performed outdoors too, such as asana yoga or tai chi.
Green exercise. This form of treatment involves undertaking physical activity in natural environments or urban green corridors. This can include exertive exercise such as cycling, running, and horse riding, where one’s physical health can also see improvement. Or, if preferred, more gentle pursuits such as walking and even kite flying.
Wilderness adventure. Popular in treating disadvantaged teenagers and young adults, this involves camping out in remote areas such as forestland where co-operation between individuals and the natural world is vital. Through navigating the various challenges that the great outdoors poses, attention is driven outwards to nature and to other people, allowing a sense of perspective to develop within.
Outdoor prescriptions. Sometimes a therapist may prescribe daily time spent in a more natural environment such as a park or garden. While not entirely natural environments, these spaces offer the opportunity to be amongst wildlife and greenery on a regular basis.
Animal therapy. Being around animals is a well-known treatment for mental health issues. If getting to a natural environment is not possible, being around an animal is almost like bringing the environment to you. This can be something as simple as tending to a farm animal, playing with a dog, watching a bird build a nest, or simply feeding some horses.
The running theme throughout these forms of therapy is that the individual is giving something back to nature during their treatment time.
Whether that is bonding with an animal, picking up litter, planting a tree, or nourishing the ground, the individual re-connects with the natural world for a while through consideration of their environment.
Paying attention to the natural world turns our attention outwards, away from ego-centricity, allowing us to return to our sense of self, renewed.
The Benefits and Evidence
While most people can relate to the benefits of spending time in nature, there is now a growing body of scientific evidence to back these claims.
One meta-study considered the reportings from 25 different studies and concluded that “natural environments may have direct and positive impacts on well-being.”
Due to the internal nature of psychology, most of the benefits of these studies are qualitative, with participants having to self-report their own states of mind.
Amongst the benefits reported, however, were:
- Improved mood
- Stress alleviation
- Better sense of wellbeing
- Greater self-esteem
For example, a report by the UK mental health charity, Mind discusses how green exercise aids the wellbeing of individuals.
In the experiment, participants were asked to take a walk through both a natural woodland and also a busy indoor shopping center, reporting their mental states and moods after each:
- 71% of participants felt an easing of depressive feelings after a woodland walk.
- 71% also felt less tense after the country walk.
- 90% reported an improvement to their self-esteem after spending time in a natural space.
- 45% felt an easing of depression after a walk through the shopping center.
- 22% felt their depression actually increased after spending time in the urban environment.
- 50% reported feeling tenser after walking through the shopping center.
- 44% claimed decreases in their self-esteem after window shopping also.
Another study by the psychologist Terry Hartig found similar results.
Published in 1991, the study induced mental fatigue in participants through a complex cognitive task. After the task, participants were randomly assigned to either walk through a natural setting, walk around an urban environment, or sit reading and listening to music.
Conclusively, the findings were that participants subjected to the natural conditions saw a more restorative effect on their minds, reporting less anger and more positive emotions.
And these findings are echoed throughout the literature, with studies repeatedly finding what many are already aware of: nature has the ability to heal our minds.
There is even some evidence to show that simply living near a green space improves the attention span of children living in urban environments and that the inclusion of flowers and greenery in a workplace greatly benefits creativity and office mood.
The findings are suggestive that artificial environments in themselves are not conducive to mental wellbeing.
Places like shopping centers, for example, are great for indulging in the trappings of modern life but are also fraught with opportunities to make us feel inadequate, overstimulated, and despondent.
The theories behind nature therapy suggest this is because, without interaction with nature, we are cut off from the self-correcting organic systems that can help keep our minds healthy.
By spending too much time subjected to distractions and the opinions, judgments, and feelings of other people, we lose our sense of perspective.
Ecotherapy offers us the chance to find such mental balance through reacquaintance with nature.
