Defining Mental Health
Discuss about the Nature And Mental Health Behaviour.
Mental health refers to the level of psychological well-being of an individual and can be defined as the psychological state of a person related to his/her functioning at a level that satisfies the emotional and behavioural adjustments. In other words, mental health includes the ability of an individual to enjoy life and maintain a balance between the activities, thereby accomplishing psychological resilience (1). The concepts of subjective wellbeing of a person, in combination of the autonomy and self-efficacy of the person are encompassed by mental health. A sound mental health also includes inter-generational dependence, competence and the inherent property of self-actualisation. Research evidence has established the fact that the well-being and mental health of all individuals have shown an elevation upon experiencing certain levels of connection or engagement with the larger world, which exist outside the defined territories of existence (2). Thus, extending one beyond the preconceived notions and perceptions, show a marked improvement in the mental status of the concerned individual. All kinds of immersion in the natural world have been found extremely beneficial in heightening the overall health and wellbeing, thereby reinforcing the need for engaging in positive engagement with the living world. Mental health most often includes the individual capacity of moving outside that results in broadening and increasing the emotional and mental perspectives about life, nature and people in general (3).
This realm grows, from meditation to a state of mindfulness state that helps the person to remain grounded in an awareness of the current situation. Hence, it acts in the form of a buffer zone between getting influenced by thoughts and emotions about the past or making anticipations about the impending future. Owing to the presence of a plethora of therapeutic techniques and tools that are present at the disposal of all, it has been found that mental health practitioners generally overlook a major resource that has the benefits of a multitude of emotional, mental, and cognitive benefits (4). This resource is often accessible to most individuals and, is cost effective in all sense. The great outdoors or nature is the basic resource that has been recognized to exert several mental health benefits. There exists mounting evidence related to the fact that lack of adequate connection with nature make human beings lose contact with a health buffer that is of utmost importance. Nature has been found to create significant impacts on the mental health by reducing the levels of stress, which in turn has been identified to have great ramifications for physical health and increased resilience. This is established by the fact that walking around a serene lake or hiking through the forests have long been identified to create a sense of relaxation and peace among all people (5). This essay will put forth an argument related to the effects of living in or near nature on the mental health and higher cognitive faculties of all individuals.
Importance of Connection with Nature
The rapid progress of urbanization around the globe is expected to reach rates of more than 70% by the year 2050. This can be attributed to the fact that more than half of humanity dwell in urban areas. Showing coincidence with the ever increasing rates of urbanization, an increase in the global prevalence of major mental disorders has also been discovered by several researchers (31). This growing evidence helps in forming a correlation between decreased exposure to nature and natural environment, with significant alterations in psychological functioning. Furthermore, rapid urbanization makes most individuals spend less time in maintain regular contact with the nature (6). Thus, efforts are being taken in recent times to evaluate the impact of environmental psychology. The effects of nature and natural surroundings on the psychology and mental health of all person are studied by the interdisciplinary field of environmental psychology that suggests the existing interplay between the two factors nature and mental health. The natural environment, social setting, learning and built environment play an important role in modulating the mental status. There needs to exist a model that pertains to human nature while solving problems that encompass nature-human interaction (7). These models facilitate the process of prediction of the natural surroundings or conditions in which the individuals have been found to respond well. Research evidences have established the fact that workplaces that had windows with view of the natural surrounding reported higher rates of life satisfaction and wellbeing among the employees. Similar findings have also been presented by studies that showed better improvements in conducting tasks that encompass working memory such as, backward alphabet or digit span, or selective attention namely, stroop colour-word tasks, among children who lived in urban environment that had better nature views (8).
Close contact with nature, an aspect that is most often utilised in ecotherapy has also shown considerable benefits in reducing the incidence of depression and anxiety among most people. City dwellers are at an increased likelihood of developing mood disorders, anxiety, and schizophrenia, upon comparison to their rural counterparts. Hence, an exposure to nature can be linked to improved mental health and wellbeing (9). Studies have also established the fact that several attributes of ecotherapy such as, taking a walk in nature for a considerable period of time results in decreasing the neural activity of the subgenual prefrontal cortex, when compared to the people who are subjected to walking along traffic heavy lanes and roads (10). This region of the brain is found to get activated during rumination that encompasses repetitive thoughts, clouded by negative emotions. Thus an exposure to nature is fundamental in reducing depressive symptoms. This can be further established by the fact that an increase in the seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is observed during the months of winter that gets alleviated by artificial light therapy and an exposure to sunlight (11). The effect of nature on mental health is established by the fact that seasonal affective disorders are primarily caused due to lack of vitamin D, during the winter months. Spending adequate time in nature creates a significant physiological impact on the body by reducing the stress hormone cortisol, and reducing blood pressure. Natural surroundings act as major form of refreshment for the brain that enhances focus, problem-solving capabilities and creativity. Furthermore, nature creates strong impacts on circadian rhythm or the biological clock (12).
Role of Environmental Psychology
Living near nature has been found to significantly improve mental health, and result in longer life expectancy of most people (6). However, the impact of income and money on the place of living of an individual cannot be denied in any respect. Income allows all individuals to meet their basic need such as, buy food and shelter, and pay for basic healthcare services. It is most important to meet these needs and a failure to do so, results in a suffering of the overall physical and mental health and the well being. However, money has been found to increase the happiness quotient of an individual, by providing more control over how the person lives (13). While income creates provisions of living closer to work, working for few hours and spending more time on leisure activities, it creates significant effects on deciding the place, where a person will reside for the rest of his life. Contrary to what is generally believed, upon meeting the basic needs, a higher income significantly increases the well being, thereby directly affecting the physical and mental health of a person. There is mounting evidence that identifies the presence of an upper limit to the health gains, associated with an individual’s personal income and overall wellbeing of the community (14). This results in making an upward adjustment of the expectations, with an increase in income that calls for the need of getting possession of more expensive things, which in turn directly attributes to higher aspirations.
In other words, adequate amount of money is most often used for buying expensive version of things that are already possessed by individuals. Therefore, increased income results in the development of a materialistic person, who focuses on luxury items, properties, and money. Such an individual is most often invested in gaining the ownership of material possessions that are directly equated to happiness. These positions are often motivated by emotional reasons, such as, to be the owner of a property that looks better and conveys a significant status symbol, rather than adequate functional reasons (15). This materialistic approach is most often utilised by the architects and developers, to build houses in a way that integrate into the environment. This has resulted in a recent trend of gaining ownership of dwellings that integrate with nature, which is facilitated by developing buildings that merge with the surrounding landscape (16). Materialistic individuals have been found to reside in properties that look like an integral part of the environment, and fulfil the wishes of that person to remain close to nature, as they can.
Benefits of Ecotherapy
The local landscape is often used as an inspiration for development of the layout and design of such houses that not only blend with nature in its construction, but also with the uses of textures, colours and materials that correspond to the nearby landscape. Hence, affluent people are often found in possession of places of residence that contains view of streams running past or a site of greenery that allows the natural world to blend with the interior of the house (17). The fact that income plays an essential role in building house, where the residents are in close contact with nature is established by the idea that most effluent people live in houses that recognise the importance of trees. This allows them to reside in places where the house structures embrace leafy surrounds (18). In addition to providing an internal peace and satisfaction, this illusion of material position is also found to significantly affect the mental health of the affluent. The aforementioned statement is elaborated by the fact that the natural characteristics of the neighbourhood in which affluent city residents live, act as crucial determinants of the daily interaction with nature, they participate in. The major causal factors behind reduced mental health are diverse and complex. A range of socio-economic differences also influenced the responses of all individuals to their interactions with nature. Hence, there is a need to understand and capitalise on the mechanisms by which nature provides psychological benefits and helps in reducing prevalence of several forms of mental disorders (19). Improved mental outcomes among the affluent people who interact with nature can be explained by the attention-restoration theory that proposes the role of natural world in promoting recovering from mental disorders, which are found to occur while performing several cognitive tasks that need prolonged maintenance of attention (20).
A plethora of evidences are available that suggest a close association between improved mental wellbeing, and the quality and availability of neighbourhood with green spaces (5). Urban neighbourhood with green space has also been linked with lower levels of anxiety stress and depression among the inhabitants (21). These benefits are most often gained by the rich people from their engagement and interaction with nature, by staying in homes that is integrated into the green environment. Interaction with nature is also facilitated by an engagement in other activities, while not being directly a part of it, such as, watching the landscape through a window (22). The natural environment that surrounds urban homes is the maximum amount of nature that the people will be exposed to everyday. Hence, all kinds of interactions with nature are found to significantly contribute towards their enhanced mental status. In urban areas two of the major elements of nature are communities and vegetation cover (23). The presence of vegetation in and around urban homes have been found to exert positive mental benefits that includes, but is not limited to reduction of stress, and promoting restoration from fatigue. However, arguments can be put against the aforementioned evidences by the fact that urban dwellers have been identified that an increased risk of suffering from mood disorders and anxiety, compared to people living in village areas (24).
Seasonal Affective Disorder and Natural Surroundings
Spending significant time outdoors results in an increased production of endorphin in the body that brings about mood alterations, and create a feeling of vitality and meaningfulness. This can be further elaborated by the fact that individuals living in villages and remote jungle habitations might not be materialistic. Living in proximity to greenery helps in keeping them in good physical and mental health, and also reduces their susceptibility of getting infected with mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and seasonal affective disorders. In addition to lowering rates of physical abnormalities such as, obesity and diabetes, living in rural habitations create provisions of residing in open natural spaces (25). While lack of income might result in a failure of these people in meeting their basic necessities and needs, the green foliage around their place of residence in villages, and nearby water bodies provide natural balance to their existence that overwhelms the physical and mental status, thereby enhancing the general well being. The natural field in rural communities has also been found to be packed with several activities that appeal to all residents, which in turn actually creates a positive impact in promoting mental health. Availability of huge open areas within village and rural settlements that are used for racing, or playing, also acts as an open-air meeting place for the local residents, thereby increasing their social interaction and exposure to nature (26).
This directly results in a reduction of the levels of cortisol hormone, and eliminates chances of getting affected with mental illnesses. Modern urban lifestyle has been associated with insufficient physical activity, direct exposure to a range of anthropogenic environmental hazards, and chronic stress that ultimately leads to a deterioration of the mental faculties (27). Rural regions have provisions for watching birds in the environment, or listening to the chirping of birds that directly contributes towards stress recovery and perceived restoration of attention. However, rural green spaces such as, residential greenery, playgrounds, and hills have been found to reduce the mortality and morbidity among rural residents, by creating provisions for psychological relaxation and elevation of stress (28).
Inequality of income, when compared to the fixed proportion of median income of a population, results in relative poverty in rural regions, and directly contributes to a financially disadvantageous position, in comparison to the urban city dwellers (21). However, better interaction with nature in the rural areas has been found to stimulate social cohesion among all residents, and also supports extensive physical activities (29). A reduction in the exposure to noise, air pollutants, and other external factors that might contribute to stress, results in potential mental health advantages, among the people belonging to the economically backward sections of the society. Hence, living in regions that are directly integrated into the natural landscape, results in a change of mood. It brings about balance and calmness, and also allows disconnection, with several distractions (30). This can also be established by the stress reduction theory, which argues that natural environment found in rural regions plays an important role in facilitating reduction of physiological arousal, following episodes of stress. Hence, although lower income might lead to an incapability of achieving the materialistic goods, living in rural areas, within the nature, results in a decrease in rumination, and increases the cognitive capabilities (31).
Impact of Income on Mental Health
Nature not only encompasses trees, waterbodies and landscape, but also contains several animals that help in maintain balance of nature. Hence, natural communities contain both plants and animals, of which some are kept for companionship, commonly known as pets. The impacts of keeping pets on the mental state of an individual have been proved time and again by the concept of animal assisted therapy that involves animals as the major form of treatment. Animals have been found to exert significant positive effects on the social, cognitive and emotional functioning of most individuals. Research studies advocate for the fact that they can be used for motivational and educational effectiveness for several person (32). This accounts for the fact that animals are used to provide assistance to several people suffering from a range of mental disabilities in a plethora of settings such as, mental institutions, nursing homes and prisons. Individuals suffering from such disabilities often view a therapist who brings along animals as less threatening, which in turn facilitates the process of developing an effective therapeutic relationship between the client and the therapist (33). The most common forms of therapies that are used for individuals suffering from mental illness such as autism include equine-assisted therapy and canine-assisted therapy. In other words, this therapy has been found specifically useful beneficial for reducing symptoms that pertain to a range of psychological disorder (34).
Furthermore, the benefits of animals as pets on the mental state of an individual can be elaborated by the biophilia hypothesis, coined by Edward O. Wilson that is based on the premise that encompasses the interest and attachment to animals, which originates from the likelihood of dependence of human survival on signals given by animals. These signals often act as environmental indicators for threat and safety (35). In addition, the hypothesis also states that observing animals in a peaceful state or at rest provides signals about the security, safety and feelings of overall enhanced health and wellbeing that is found to trigger a state of being that has possibilities for healing and personal changes. This hypothesis also emphasizes on the fact that human beings possess the innate tendency to form connections with different forms of life and the nature, which in turn results in the establishment of a sound psychological orientation of getting attracted to all forms of life. These connections are subconsciously searched for, by people, for the rest of their lives (36). While previous findings have illustrated the fact that pets and companion animals can provide assistance to children with autism and result in an enhanced social functioning, recent studies also demonstrate a significant reduction in social stress and anxiety, in the company of pets, when compared to counterparts who played with peers or were isolated. Thus, there is mounting evidence that promotes the role of pets in easing the stress, faced by autistic children, in social situations (37). Children suffering from autism often face several challenges, while entering the grind of their primary schools.
These challenges are commonly encompassed by problems faced during socializing with same aged kids or dealing with a variety of overwhelming stimulation sources, all of which can add to their anxiety and apprehensions (38). Several organizations have built on the biophilia hypothesis and brought pets such as, dogs, cats, and guinea pigs to the classroom, with the aim of facilitating understanding and socialization of the children suffering from poor mental health (39). It is often difficult for such children to manage social interactions, owing to the fact that they view the world differently. This contributes to their failure in interpreting emotional cues in a way that other kids of their age can do. A companionship of a pet provides confidence to such children regarding their ability to foster an effective rapport or bond with their peers that would ultimately culminate into friendship. Most therapists have been found to rely on the behaviour of paediatric patient with poor mental health by monitoring the behaviour of the child with the pet, tone of voice, and conducting indirect interviewing methods (40). Contact with pets has also been found to give rise to a sense of comfort that acts as a standalone treatment. Animal assisted therapy is also used in combination with other conventional methods of treating mental problems.
The role of animal assisted therapy in drawing in the bond that exists between animals and human is utilised by hospice care centres and nursing homes for improving and maintaining the function of an individual that assists enhancement of the quality of life. This can be further elaborated by the fact that elderly patients become agitated, passive, depressed, inactive and withdrawn in such care centres (41). Animals have been found to motivate such patients, thereby improving their mental and physical health.
In addition to the direct benefits exerted by natural surroundings on the mental health of a person, virtual nature has also been found to significantly contribute to mental wellbeing. Novel approaches have determined the effectiveness of computer generated nature imagery, which in turn has significantly contributed to resurrection of interest of individuals. Children, living in nature deprived areas are most often found engrossed in watching nature programs that help them coming in contact with virtual reality. Such nature videos reportedly create a reduction in irritability and hyperactivity among such children (42). Previous research that focused on the potential benefits of an exposure to such virtual nature programs or photographs have established a close association between such immersion and restoration effects that encompass, reduced negative effects, mental enhancement and reduced stress (43). Environmental psychologists have long emphasized on the importance of the natural world in mental and cognitive development of all people. However, nature is often found in the virtual lives, through the nature programs that are watched by children or videos and online nature games that they play. The television and cyberspace is found to contain several images and languages of nature (44).
Nature programs often allow the children to explore exotic territories of the world or wander around in places, which they cannot access. Although a virtual contact with nature has often shown benefits in reducing stress levels, arguments can be put against the perceived benefits. The paradoxical effect that such virtual reality exerts on the mind of a child can be attributed to the fact that children often identify themselves with the characters or places that they watch in the programs (45). These are most often inappropriate for any kind of identification because such programs often portray animals and pets as either too aggressive or having the power to speak. These animals are depicted in a way that shows one viciously beating or destroying the other. These results in broken legs, arms, smacked faces, and ruined figures. The animals shown in nature programs are generally found to chase and fight with each other all the time, while seeking revenge (46). Portraying the virtual reality in a way that involves animals that throw a grand piano on the rival’s head or results in a loud explosion depicts violence and creates detrimental effects on the mental and cognitive functioning of children (47).
Owing to the fact that a virtual exposure to nature creates significant alterations in the mental state of individuals, there is a need to analyse the effect of virtual nature programs on the mental health of children. Children who are subjected to watching such programs for a prolonged period of time might suffer from unexplainable psychological and emotional trauma, which will be dominated by their fear for pets or animals. This statement has been validated by psychologists who suggested that kids watching such programs tend to display aggression, nervousness and disobedience. The nature programs often show events such as hiking, or trekking, with which the children easily identify themselves. This might result in a dissatisfaction of note being able to accomplish the tasks shown by the characters in the programs (48). Being in contact with the virtual reality that shows the best of the natural world might result in frustration and stress among the concerned individuals as well, due to their failure to live in an environment that integrates into nature. The denial of the truth related to failure to live in contact with nature often results in disappointment and leads to mental suffering (49). The grim reality deteriorates the mental wellbeing and results in a failure to cope with stress and demands of a claustrophobic urban life.
Thus, from the above discussions it can be deduced that an exposure to nature not only contributes to the mental and physical wellbeing of a person, but also helps significantly in reducing anxiety and stress, thereby providing better capacity to cope with the demands of life. Living closer to nature, in greener areas significantly reduce mortality rates. Although income has indeed been identified as a major confounder that affects that place of living of the affluent people, in or around spaces that contain greenery or beautiful landscapes, it cannot be stated that income increases the likelihood of wealthy people to have an enhanced mental health. This can be attributed to the fact that lower rates of mental problems are encountered by people living close to nature in rural areas. Therefore, income can definitely not be considered of utmost importance in enhancing mental wellbeing and cognitive development, as the materialistic people often experience anxiety and stress, compared to their rural counterparts. Furthermore, animal and pet companionship also enhances the mental state of an individual. However, there is no denying the fact that prolonged contact with virtual reality that focuses on animals and nature might lead to severe adverse effects on the mental state of people.
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