The effects of ecotherapy on mental health

Abstract

Ecotherapy is a type of therapeutic treatment, that because of it’s different approaches, can be described in a number of ways. Ecotherapy comprises of either having activities in the outdoors, or including elements of nature inside. It is about creating a connection with nature, therefore creating a connection with one’s self. This dissertation will look into the effects of ecotherapy on one’s Mental Health (MH), therefore the research question is: What are the effects of Ecotheapy on Mental Health? This was formulated using the PEO framework, where the population is all people with MH problems, the exposure is Ecotherapy and the outcomes are the effects of ecotherapy on MH. An inclusion and exclusion criteria was established. Inclusion criteria included: related to ecotherapy, related to mental health, dated 2010 – 2020, all populations, all genders, all ages, not restricted by area, published in the English language, peer reviewed and full text available. Whilst the exclusion criteria consisted of: not related to ecotherapy, not related to mental health, dated prior to 2010, not published in the English language, non academically published and not supported by data. Using several electronic databases, a thorough search was done, this yielded numerous results. A Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) tool was used to asses each study for validity, accuracy and relevance. This helped to narrow down the search to 10 studies. The main results from these studies show that ecotherapy is effective. The conclusion is that the use of ecotherapy is beneficial to those with MH problems. The most important recommendation is to have a local study carried out, which can be used as a baseline for an ecotherapy programme for people with MH problems in Malta.