71% Report Depression Decrease After Green Walk, 22% Report Depression Increase After Urban Walk

Leading mental health charity Mind today launches a groundbreaking new report (1) which sets a new green agenda for mental health. With a mass of new and growing evidence, Mind calls for ecotherapy to be recognised as a clinically-valid frontline treatment for mental health problems. As 93 per cent of GPs have prescribed drugs due to a lack of alternatives (2) and access to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy takes up to four years in some areas of the UK (3), it is vital that ecotherapy is considered by GPs alongside these as a treatment option.


Ecotherapy involves getting outdoors and getting active in a green environment as a way of boosting mental wellbeing. Whether it's taking regular walks in the park, flying a kite or participating in a gardening therapy project, green exercise is proven to have huge benefits for mental health. The prescription of care farms as a treatment for mental distress has been highly successful on the continent but the UK is lagging far behind Europe - there are only 43 care farms in the UK, none of which are directed at mental health, compared to 600 in the Netherlands and 400 in Norway.


Ecotherapy versus retail therapy


Mind's new report Ecotherapy: the green agenda for mental health presents the findings of the first ever study looking at how green exercise specifically affects people with mental health problems. A walk in a country park was compared with a walk in an indoor shopping centre (4). The results are startling:


-- 71 per cent reported decreased levels of depression after the green walk

-- 22 per cent felt their depression increased after walking through an indoor shopping centre and only 45 per cent experienced a decrease in depression

-- 71 per cent said they felt less tense after the green walk

-- 50 per cent said their feelings of tension had increased after the shopping centre walk

-- 90 per cent had increased self-esteem after the country walk

-- 44 per cent said their self-esteem decreased after window shopping in the shopping centre.


Green activities boost mental health


Mind's second research study (5) showed the views of people who regularly partake in green activities run by Mind's network of local Mind associations:


-- 90 per cent said it was the combination of nature and exercise that had the greatest effect on them

-- 94 per cent said that green activities had benefited their mental health, lifting depression.


Farming therapy


Britain is trailing far behind other European countries in introducing care farms as a treatment for mental distress. Patients suffering from mental distress in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Slovenia are prescribed agriculture work where they acquire new skills and gain increased confidence while farmers get paid for providing a health service and benefit from additional labour power.















Holland has 600 care farms that are a fully integrated part of the health service but in the UK care farming is still a relatively new concept. The National Care Farming Initiative estimates that there are 43 care farms in the UK but none aimed at mental health, the majority self-funded and there is no national framework. The expansion of UK care farms could aid thousands of people with mental health problems. It could also help rural regeneration and break down the stigma and isolation surrounding mental health problems in rural communities.


Antidepressant prescriptions soar


Antidepressant prescriptions are at an all-time high with