A Walk In the Woods & Country, A Brief
Retreat,
Gardening - All Better Than Anti-Depressants Alone
Date: 14 May 07
Feeling down in the dumps lately?
 Just
grab a backpack and head into the nearest woods. For, a walk
in the country is an effective alternative to chemical
anti-depression treatment, a leading mental health charity
said on Monday, calling on British doctors to prescribe
outdoor activities.
Mind, the leading mental health charity in the United
Kingdom, argues that instead of relying solely on drugs
people should also receive ecotherapy.
This "green treatment" involves walking, kite-flying and
gardening and should be recognized as a clinically-valid
frontline treatment for mental health problems, Mind claims.
The study titled, "Ecotherapy: the Green Agenda for Mental
Health," is the first one to examine the effects of the
so-called green exercise in maintaining mental health.
Researchers at the University of Essex studied the effect of
walking on 20 members of the charity.
The members were randomly assigned to walk for 30 minutes in
a country park or in indoor shopping center. After a walk in
the country, some 90 percent said they felt a rise in their
self-esteem, while 71 percent said they felt less tense and
depressed.
Participants who were assigned for the shopping centre walk
were not as successful. Only 45 percent said there was a
decrease in depression, while 22 percent said they actually
felt more depressed.
Mind's chief executive Paul Farmer said that ecotherapy
should not replace drugs, but the debate on its use "needs
to be broadened."
 The
charity also called for care farms, where patients are
prescribed agricultural work, to be introduced as a
treatment for mental distress. "Mind sees ecotherapy
as an important part of the future for mental health. It's a
credible, clinically-valid treatment option and needs to be
prescribed by GPs, especially when for many people access to
treatments other than antidepressants is extremely limited,"
Farmer said.
The Mind charity said so-called “ecotherapy” could help
millions of people with mental health problems after two
studies it commissioned suggested it could have significant
benefits for sufferers in most cases.
Prescription of care farms as a treatment has been highly
successful on mainland Europe, but Britain has failed to
follow the example, it added as it launched a report
'Ecotherapy: the green agenda for mental health'.
 There
is no known equivalent, whatsoever, in allopathic
(pharmaceutical) treatment that is prevalent in the United
States.
Mind chief executive Paul Farmer said: "Mind sees ecotherapy
as an important part of the future for mental health. It is
a credible, clinically-valid treatment option and needs to
be prescribed by general practitioners, especially when for
many people access to treatments other than anti-depressants
is extremely limited."
Researchers from the University of Essex, eastern England,
studied the effect of a 30-minute walk in a country park
compared with one in an indoor shopping centre on a small
sample of 20 people with mental health problems.
It found that 71% reported decreased levels of depression
and anxiety after the outdoor walk while 90% said their
self-esteem increased.
This compared with 22% who said their stress levels
increased, 50% who felt more tense and 44% whose self-esteem
plummeted while indoors.
A second study of 108 people with mental health problems
suggested nearly all (94%) found “green exercise” boosted
their state of mind.
A Mind spokesperson said prescriptions of anti-depressants
were at an all-time high, with more than 31 million written
last year in the United Kingdom alone — a 6% increase from
the previous 12 months — because practitioners felt they had
no alternatives.
In particular, prescriptions of drugs such as Prozac have
risen by 10%. Cheap ecotherapies could cut costs as they
were readily available and had no negative side effects.
For those couch potatoes who wallow in self pity after a
round of depressing movies or maybe their favorite team’s
loss in a playoff game, a walk in the greens may not only
boost their spirits but also provide some much-needed
exercise and fresh air. And in this ever-more stressful
world, where psychiatric diseases are on the rise, the
option of a hike in the forest comes across as a much
cheaper alternative.
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