A walk in the country is an effective alternative to chemical anti-depression treatment, according to a leading British mental health charity.
The Mind charity said "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.
PHOTO: AFP
Mind chief executive Paul Farmer said: "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 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 center on a small sample of 20 people with mental health problems.
It found that 71 percent reported decreased levels of depression and anxiety after the outdoor walk while 90 percent said their self-esteem increased.
This compared with 22 percent who said their stress levels increased, 50 percent who felt more tense and 44 percent whose self-esteem plummeted while indoors. A second study of 108 people with mental health problems suggested nearly all (94 percent) found "green exercise" boosted their state of mind.
Mind said prescriptions of anti-depressants were at an all-time high, with more than 31 million written last year — a six percent increase from the previous 12 months — because doctors had no alternatives. Cheap ecotherapies could cut costs as they were readily available and had no negative side effects. (AFP)
英國一個主要心理衛生慈善團體表示,鄉間漫步是替代化學抗憂鬱劑療法的有效選擇。
在兩份委託進行的研究顯示「生態療法」對大多數病患大有幫助後,「心智」慈善基金會表示,此療法或許能幫助數百萬名心理疾病患者。
「心智」慈善基金會在發表「生態療法:心理衛生綠色議題」報告時補充說,照護農場的處方治療在歐洲大陸相當成功,但在英國卻未見相同成效。
「心智」慈善基金會執行長保羅?法默爾說:「我們把生態療法視為未來心理衛生的一個重要部份。」
「這種可靠且臨床證明有效的治療方法,需要執業醫生開立處方,對許多除了抗憂鬱藥物療法外,沒有太多選擇的人來說,特別有幫助。」
英格蘭東部艾塞克斯大學的研究人員針對二十名心理疾病患者進行研究,比較在鄉間公園散步三十分鐘和待在室內購物中心裡的效果。
結果發現,戶外散步後,有七成一的人表示沮喪及焦慮程度降低,九成的人表示自我價值感提升。
相較於待在室內者,有兩成二的人表示壓力程度增加,五成的人感覺更加緊張,還有四成四的人認為自我價值感重挫。第二份針對一百零八名心理疾病患者的研究顯示,幾乎所有受測者(九成四)都認為「綠色運動」提振了他們的心理狀態。
「心智」慈善基金會表示,因為醫生別無選擇,所以抗憂鬱藥物的處方數量一直居高不下,光是去年就超過了三千一百萬張,這和十二個月之前相比,增加了百分之六。便宜的生態療法因為取得容易又不會帶來不好的副作用,或許可以降低費用。(法新社/翻譯:林倩如)
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