The beneficial mental-health effects of being in nature

[David Baxter PhD]

The beneficial mental-health effects of being in nature
By Eric Wilinski
August 24, 2010



It's no secret that spending time in the great outdoors can have calming, clarifying effects on the psyche. For those of us without a meditation practice, contemplating an alpine lake or a seaside sunset is probably the quickest path available to true stillness of mind. Anyone who's athletically inclined will tell you it's much more enjoyable to cycle or run through the woods or along the beach than it is to get your heart rate up on an exercycle or a treadmill or some other machine -- and from my perspective, when you're dealing with panic, the prospect of being outdoors typically creates far less anxiety than that of being in a crowded, noisy gym. (I actually have a piece in the most recent esperanza magazine about how I used mountain biking to get through a period of panic when I lived in Los Angeles; at the time, just the thought of entering a gym would've made my skin crawl with claustrophobia.)

Poets and painters have been communicating this truth for eons, but it's only recently that science has gotten in on the act. Despite its subjectivity-focused origins, today the field of ecopsychology is bringing hard evidence into our understanding of the effects of the natural world on mental health:

In the past few years, some ecopsychologists have made significant strides in adding scientific rigor to their field. What their research suggests so far is that even subtle interactions with nature provide a range of cognitive benefits, including elevated mood, enhanced memory, and decreased stress. Staring out a window at pretty scenery can significantly lower one?s heart rate, for example, and some studies even indicate that hospital windows with views of nature can facilitate healing. What?s more, nature provides measurably greater benefits than both manmade environments and simulations of nature. Research demonstrates that walking through the city can tax our attention, whereas a park restores our concentration and can even improve our performance on tests of memory.
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The field is introducing new forms of therapy to the psychological toolkit:

Standing alone atop a modest mountain in rural Maine, Eric Adams looked out into the darkness all around him. Between the silhouettes of boulders and trees, slivers of yellow light wandered and winked ? the eyes of wild animals. Fears began to crowd his mind, but he did not push them away. This was part of his therapy....

?I don?t have an office ? all my meetings are outside regardless of the weather,? said Dennis Grannis-Phoenix, an ecotherapist in Bangor, Maine who began counseling Adams in 2004. Hiking, camping, kayaking ? each therapeutic session centered on an outdoor activity. Grannis-Phoenix asked Adams to climb the mountain alone as an exercise in learning to face his fears and anxieties. Instead of rationalizing his fears, Grannis-Phoenix wanted Adams to embrace them ? something both therapist and patient feel is easier to learn in nature than in an office.
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A final note: This piece brings to mind an interesting recent article from the New York Times about what happened when a group of busy neuroscientists went camping "off the grid" for a week earlier this year. The bottom line: It worked.

 

[Daniel E.]

Do We Need Green Therapy?: CBT in Nature
New York Behavioral Health blog
August 15th, 2011

If you have been in therapy, chances are it took place in an office located in a hospital, institution, clinic, or a regular office building. What if the therapy could be conducted somewhere else? Where would you choose? On the beach? In a field? In the woods?

Based upon theories of environmental psychology that (1) the human disconnect with nature causes many of our psychological and physical problems and (2) nature itself is a restorative environment—as well as research results demonstrating that merely walking through a forest lowers one’s blood pressure, muscle tension, and cortisol levels and strengthens immunity—a simple study was designed. Its purpose? To see how the results of cognitive-behavioral therapy carried out in a forest environment would compare to results of the same treatment conducted in a hospital setting. The patients were those with major depressive disorder (MDD). And the variables targeted were heart rate variability, cortisol levels (in saliva), and depressive symptoms measured by a rating scale for depression.

You can probably guess how the experiment turned out. The physiological indices for the forest group were more favorable than for the hospital group. And remission rates, based on depressive symptoms, showed incredible differences: 61% for the forest group, 21% for the hospital group, and 5% for the controls (no therapy).

Do the findings mean we should “take to the woods” and streams for psychotherapy? Not only would this measure be extremely impractical “time-wise” for therapists and clients alike with their busy schedules, but also it is generally implausible in terms of finding and obtaining usable outdoor spaces. And then there are other issues, e.g., special liability insurance. What the results do imply, however, is that we should perhaps consider what might be conveniently incorporated into an office environment (plants, fountains, wall paintings or photographs of nature) or into the therapy itself (meditation, yoga, tai chi, exercise) that add some of nature’s soothing and/or uplifting features. Although this was a small experiment with limitations (e.g., lacked comparison to a regular, non-hospital office setting), it should tell us—therapists and clients alike—to keep an open mind regarding what might work to make therapy more effective. What can you think of that might prove comforting to a highly anxious person or recuperative to a depressed individual?

Reference
Kim W, Lim SK, Chung EJ, Woo JM. The effect of cognitive behavior therapy-based psychotherapy applied in a forest environment on physiological changes and remission of major depressive disorder. Psychiatry Investig. 2009;6(4):245-254.

 

[forgetmenot]

i found that even hearing the sounds of nature maybe played on a tape helped to relax ones mind as it it was more intuned to those sounds then to the sounds of the noise in ones thinking I just remember hearing the sounds of the sea gulls outside and felt the air it was calming so calming

 

[Daniel E.]

10 Suggestions for Connecting with Nature

Sit by a window and work in the natural light Open a window--even when it's cold-- and breath some fresh air Turn off the TV and other media and listen to the sound of the wind rattling the window panes or the rain on the roof Listen to the crunch of leaves under your feet or the squeak of snow as you walk Watch the phases of the moon each night for a month Catch a sunset or sunrise Turn out the lights at night and look out at the night sky Dress for the weather and take a walk Tend to plants, shrubs and trees Bring nature indoors with plants, flower arrangements, wreaths etc.