Summer has truly taken hold now in the UK, for many people this is their most active time of year – time to brush the dust off your bike, tennis racket or lawn mower. For others the heat is just too much making these types of activites something of a hazard. Whichever group you belong to, spending more time outside is likely to be a feature of your summer – so do you feel better for it?

Insider Look at Ecopsychology

Ecopsychology, a connection between ecology and psychology is the theoretical root of Ecotherapy. The term ecopsychology was coined back in the early nineties when Theodore Roszak wrote the book The Voice of the Earth.

This was the beginning of a new era in the development of psychology. Professionals wanted to find links between the science of mental behaviour and the ways in which those afflicted behave toward the environment.

Roszak mentioned in his book a variety of other names used to describe the field of ecopsychology: Psychoecology, Earth-centered therapy, ecotherapy, environmental psychology, global therapy, reearthing, nature-based psychotherapy, shamanic counselling, sylvan therapy, green therapy.

While the human mind is obviously shaped by the modern world, ecopsychology can help to inspire and comfort those who are affected.

Mental health or the lack of it cannot be understood simply in the narrow context of only intrapsychic phenomena or social relations. To understand the full extent of this we also have to include the relationship of humans to other species and ecosystems. These relations have a deep evolutionary history.

Humans are dependent on healthy nature for their physical sustenance and mental health and the increasing pressure of modern day living has created a huge chasm that sees many struggle with their mental health. When we destroy ecosystems we undermine the network of our own existence, reducing the gene pool from which we can borrow, learn, develop and find new ideas for medicines (and new approaches to other problems).

Ecotherapy in the UK

Depression therapy: Researchers at the University of Essex compared two different walks and the effects they have on the human psyche. The first is the effect of a walk in a country park and the second a walk in a shopping centre. After a walk in a park, 71 per cent of participants were less depressed and 90 per cent reported increased self-esteem. After a walk in a shopping centre only 45 per cent were less depressed (with 22 per cent more depressed) and 44 per cent had lower self-esteem.

Ecotherapy and Fashion

The first task chair to be endorsed by the American Physical Therapy Association is called Zody chair and is manufactured by Hayworth. The chair is assembled using 100% renewable wind energy, equal to planting 194 acres of mature trees. There is ample lumbar support which allows you to achieve varying amounts of support on either the left or right side just by rotating the handle up or down. Plus there are adjustable arms.

SukiPure is a green cosmetic line, offering women a natural approach to fresh and healthy skin care. The products are not mass produced and are based on botanical ingredients such as pure, premium and steamed distilled essential oils, handmade organic saponified olive oil, organic rice flour, rose hips, calendula and lemongrass.

Small Hands has created some eco-friendly t-shirts for the whole family. They are made with organic cotton with environmentally friendly ink. To top it all off, the team at Small hands uses groovy slogans to stimulate our “happy zones”.

The Visionary Boutique caters to green customers of all ages and creed. All of the stocked products in the shop will have to meet a minimum of one of the following criteria: organic, inspired by nature, recycled, local, earth friendly, handcrafted, fair trade, cruelty free and enlightening.

Ecotherapy Around the World

Pangea Organics founder Joshua Scott Onysko will micro-finance a solar powered facility to produce lavendar and lemongrass oils in Zambia. He employs 23 Zambian women who have been widowed by HIV and would otherwise have little option to make a living for themselves. Onysko is a real eco-entrepreneur and his business plan will use solar power to heat up the water and botanicals in his distillery to create organic and natural essential oils.

Ecotherapy is treated seriously in Europe. In Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Slovenia, patients with depression are prescribed agricultural work. Apparently the Netherlands has 600 care farms that are part of their health service, the BBC reported last year.

Ecotherapy in Australia: Here is an interesting snippet on the psychiatric effect global warming can have on people: “A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events.”

Eco-Friendly DIY

Though stressful to some, like cleaning many people find DIY therapeutic. Whether this is due to the repetitive physical nature of the task, or the reward of producing a useful tangible result (probably horses for courses) but either way do what works for you!

With the growth and awareness of ecotherapy worldwide, we ware likely to see more and more eco-friendly DIY products. What better way to look after mother earth than to salvage and recycle our old stuff first? If you’d like to become an eco-friendly DIY warrior yourself you may prefer to forgoe the DIY centre or shopping centre in favour of the charity shop, rubbish tip and of course always peruse a skip when passing (often a gold mine!).

We wish you a good start to August, and next month we’ll have a slightly longer issue since there are a few things we have meant to do but didn’t get around to this month – such as looking at common themes between ecotherapy/psychology and broader psychology, philosophy.. and perhaps even politics