Supporting Theories..... an epistemological foundation. No fake news here!

The healing effects of nature are supported by three theories that locate them within a scientific evidence base.  Citing Jordan (2014):

What these different theories point to is the importance of nature in provoking an aesthetic and affective response which is positive and beneficial to human health in a number of ways: reducing stress, restoring attention, promoting well-being.  It also highlights how contact with nature is driven by an unfolding evolutionary process linked to brain chemistry and genes which is essential for human survival.

The Biophilia Hypothesis (Wilson 1984 in Jordan 2014)

“Biophilia” (Fromm, 1964) is the innate tendency to focus on life and life-like processes.  Biophilia describes a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital.  

Wilson argues that through our evolutionary biology, humans are genetically programmed to seek kinship with the more-than-human (natural) world.

The hypothesis suggests human identity and personal fulfilment depend on our relationship to nature – not just for material exploitation of the environment (natural resources) but also for our emotional, cognitive, aesthetic and spiritual development.

Kellert (1993) extended the hypothesis to the interdependence of the natural environment and our genetic evolution.  I take this to mean, as the earth goes; so do we.
  
This does not strike me as far-fetched.  We are made of the same physical matter as the earth.  What makes us think we are something extrinsic?

Joni Mitchell’s lyrics in her seminal song Woodstock (1969) are a presage to the climate and environmental crisis we are in today and reify the Biophilia Hypothesis. 

We are stardust

Billion year old carbon

We are golden

Caught in the devil’s bargain

And we’ve got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

 

It might seem oversimplified but I regard each of us (persons) as a micro-organism (human being) who occupies a shared (interconnected) space on a mega-organism (earth).

The Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989 and Kaplan 1995 in Jordan 2014)

The Kaplans researched the restorative effects of the natural environment by studying the psychological effects of being in wilderness and local parks. 

Taking the concept of voluntary and involuntary attention they proposed two kinds: directed and indirect attention or “soft fascination” (Kaplan and Kaplan 1989).

Directed attention is when we have to focus our attention on a task and sustain this concentration while resisting competing distractions.  The impact on us is tiredness and impaired higher cognitive functioning.

In contrast to that, indirect attention is maintained by aesthetic and sensory contact with the natural world and does not fatigue us or deplete our capacity to think because it uses different cognitive functioning.

The extent of restoration is variable but for the best results, a natural experience should be outside of your daily routine, take place in a complex natural environment, be in good weather and involve your participation in an activity that is engaged with nature, such as berry picking, bird watching, rambling, coppicing, etc.

Psychoevolutionary theory of stress reduction (Jordan 2014)

Research into the aesthetic properties of natural environments proves that they stimulate and evoke automatic positive affective (good mood) and parasympathetic physiological responses (rest and digest instead of fight, flight or freeze) with associated feelings of calmness, relaxedness, pleasantness and fascination.

Robert Ulrich (1984) is probably the most cited and influential evidence-based healthcare design researcher in the world.  His classic paper on a view from a hospital window was based on ten years of research that compared the recovery of patients who had a view of a blank hospital wall with those who could see trees from their hospital beds.  The hospital stays of patients with a view of the trees were shorter.

Ulrich (1983) evaluated the attributes of the views in terms of complexity, vista, inclusion of water and absence of threat.  His appraisal has been incorporated in billions of dollars of healthcare design and construction around the world including the NHS.

A growing body of research into rehab gardens to promote recovery from mental health problems such as stress and burnout (Stigsdotter and Grahn 2003) is gaining prominence in Scandinavia, the Netherlands and elsewhere.



References

1. Jordan, M. (2015) Nature and Therapy, p. 11, Routledge, Hove, East Sussex.

2. Ibid.

3. Mitchell, J. (1969) Siquomb Publishing Company.

4. Jordan, M. Ibid.  

Health-ease vs Busy-ness.... time to turn things right side up

The promotion of healthy lifestyles has gained a lot of ground in recent decades but medicine (even preventative medicine) is overwhelmingly concerned with disease.

What if we were to consider “health-ease”?  It is the antithesis of disease.  A basic premise of the Relative Model of Health (Downie et al 2000) is that health and well-being are not solely based on the absence of disease or illness.

Downie advanced the process of being empowered to have a good life by having the autonomy to satisfy one’s social, material and aspirational needs and the strength, stamina, suppleness and skills to achieve “positive” health.

The Wellness Wheel illustrates this concept and a number of universities including Princeton and Clarion have adopted this as a model for student life.

In other words psychological, social and spiritual health are vitally important and contribute to medically good health.  As a holistic practitioner, this aligns with my beliefs.  

Yet psychological health is suffering and I see it in my consulting room.  My clients have presented with burnout, stress, anxiety, depression and mental agitation. 
Is chronic “busy-ness” the problem?  Well, partly.  You can’t sustain a state of hyper-arousal.

A few years ago the comedian Ruby Wax parodied our societal obsession with being busy.  When asked if we’re busy, she admonished us to retort, "Am I busy, are you kidding? I'm so busy I've had three heart attacks and I'm on life support."

The fact of the matter is that as a nation, we are busier than ever but according to the Office for National Statistics (2019) productivity has been steadily declining for a decade. 

We are also more stressed-out here in the North East of England than the rest of the country (Chronicle, 2018).  The Mental Health Foundation conducted a survey that revealed 77% have been “overwhelmed or unable to cope”.

The Telegraph (2019) reported that the internet is physically changing our brains leading to shorter attention spans and worse memory.  High internet use and multi-tasking have caused us to hold what researchers call a ‘divided attention’, making concentration more difficult.

Social media is impacting on embodied face time as well.  We are yearning for human and natural contact but “technoference”  (Psychology Today 2015) or smartphone use in the company of others is responsible for creating conflict, dissatisfaction and depression according to a Brigham Young University study.

Ofcom found that the average British adult spends 50 full days a year online.

In a prescient piece of writing from 1941 Carl Jung (Sabini 2016) wrote:

All time-saving devices, amongst which we must count easier means of communication and other conveniences, do not, paradoxically enough, save us time but merely cram our time so full that we have no time for anything.  Hence the breathless haste, superficiality, and nervous exhaustion with all the concomitant symptoms – craving for stimulation, impatience, irritability, vacillation, etc.  Such a state may lead to all sorts of other things, but never to any increased culture of the mind and heart.

The health-giving benefits of the more-than-human world are in stark contrast to the harmful effects of the manmade world.

The challenge for us is how to manage our usage of IT and not succumb to the tyranny of instant communication and the ubiquity of the internet.

The difficulty is that we live in the digital age, work in the gig economy and belong to a consumer society.  Just how life-affirming is it?


References

1. Downie, R.S., Tannahill, C. and Tannahill, A. (2000) Health Promotion Models and Values, 2nd en. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

2. Office of National Statistics accessed online May 2019.

3.  "New figures show North East is suffering more stress than the UK average," Chronicle, 14 May 2018.

4. "Internet is giving us shorter attention spans and worse memories, major study suggests," Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2019.

5. "Is Technoference Wrecking Your Love Life?" Psychology Today, 4 July 2015, accessed 15 May 2019.

6. Sabini, M. (2016) "C.G. Jung - The Earth Has A Soul", North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, Calif.