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BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhuanet) -- A new
study found that taking long walks in countryside could help alleviate symptoms
of depression.
Mind, the leading mental health charity in UK, 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 recognised 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.
"Hundreds of people have benefited from the green
projects run by our local Mind associations but if prescribing ecotherapy was
part of mainstream practice it could potentially help the millions of people
across the country who are affected by mental
distress."
(Agencies)
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