Nature and Mental Health

The United Nations says more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas and that figure is rising quickly. On the one hand, urbanization brings modern benefits for quality of life and access to services. On the other, people who live in cities are more likely to suffer from anxiety disorders, depression and even schizophrenia. Researchers at Stanford University have been looking into the power of nature to mitigate those mental illnesses and published some intriguing evidence in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Greg Bratman is a doctoral student at the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources at Stanford University.