Green Care: Mitigating Stress with Plants

Abstract

Ecotherapy, also known as nature therapy or green therapy, is the applied practice of Ecopsychology a therapeutic treatment that involves outdoor activities in nature such as care farming, animal-assisted interventions (AAI), social and therapeutic horticulture (STH), healing gardens and facilitated green exercise. Natural environment because of its role in species evolution has a restorative impact on humans increasing happiness promoting neurotransmitter serotonin production, applicable to many medical phenomena. Humans have an innate biological affinity for the natural environment -the biophilia hypothesis and Biophilic design is an integral part of restorative environmental design, an approach that seeks to re-establish positive connections between nature and humanity.

Keywords

• green therapy
• nature therapy
• green care
• stress reversal
• mental health