"What we intuitively know - that getting outdoors is good for us - is now supported by a robust body of research. In the last decade there has been an explosion of studies that demonstrate that interactions with nature lowers stress, reduces ruminations (the negative thoughts associated with depression), and lessens anxiety. Studies have also shown that interacting with nature fosters creativity, improves cognitive function, restores attention fatigue, increases our sense of happiness, and can impact pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors."
"Historically, psychotherapy occurs in indoor office spaces and focuses on issues that stop at the urban boundary. Because much of the dominant Western culture saw humans as separate from nature, practitioners did not consider the individual's ecological experience as a factor in their well-being. We did not recognize the potential therapeutic benefits of a reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world. Similarly, global environmental concerns were not thought to impact the mental health of the individual."
Interacting with nature lowers stress, reduces ruminations and anxiety, fosters creativity, improves cognitive function, restores attention, increases happiness, and encourages pro-social and pro-environmental behaviors. A robust body of recent research documents these psychological and cognitive benefits and supports incorporating nature into clinical practice as ecotherapy. Historically, psychotherapy occurred in indoor offices and treated problems within urban boundaries, reflecting Western views of humans as separate from nature and ignoring ecological experience as a factor in well-being. Growing awareness of climate-related anxiety and trauma, combined with mounting evidence of nature's benefits, enables clinicians to address ecological impacts on mental health through nature-based methods.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]