The effects of forest therapy on depression and anxiety in patients with chronic stroke

Chun, Min Ho; Lee, Hee Jin; Lee, Sung–Jae

doi:10.3109/00207454.2016.1170015

Cited by 142 publications

(214 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…It was found that spending time in a forest can effectively reduce mental stress and alleviate anxiety (Morita et al 2007, Kim et al 2009, Park et al 2011, Ochiai et al 2015, Song et al 2016, Chun et al 2016. This function was recognized as the term of "forest bathing", i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been found that forest bathing can make people feel relaxed and comfortable with more anxiety-alleviation than walking in a local urban environment (Song et al 2013, Sonntag-Öström et al 2015a, Chun et al 2016. In addition, the negative mood of exhaustion-disorder and hypertensive patients was regulated by forest bathing after repeated visits for several months in the forest (Sonntag-Öström et al 2015a, Chun et al 2016) and mood of chronic stroke patients can be improved by 3-4 days of forest bathing (Chun et al 2016). Taking ordinary people as participants, it was found that their anxiety can also be alleviated in 1-2 days (Park et al 2007, 2011, Lee et al 2009, Ochiai et al 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The tree-species-specific effect of forest bathing on perceived anxiety alleviation of young-adults in urban forests

Guan

Wei

et al. 2017

Ann. For. Res.

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He X., Ren Z., An B., 2017. The tree-species-specific effect of forest bathing on perceived anxiety alleviation of young-adults in urban forests. Ann. For. Res. 60(2): 327-341.Abstract. Forest bathing, i.e. spending time in a forest to walk, view and breathe in a forest, can alleviate the mental depression of visitors, but the tree-species-specific effect of this function by the urban forest is unknown. In this study, sixty-nine university students (aged 19-22, male ratio: 38%) were recruited as participants to visit urban forests dominated by birch (Betula platyphylla Suk.), maple (Acer triflorum Komarov) and oak (Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb) trees in a park at the center of Changchun City, Northeast China. In the maple forest only the anxiety from study interest was decreased, while the anxiety from employment pressure was alleviated to the most extent in the birch forest. Participants perceived more anxiety from lesson declined in the oak forest than in the birch forest. Body parameters of weight and age were correlated with the anti-anxiety scores. In the oak forest, female participants can perceive more anxiety alleviation than male participants. For university students, forest bathing in our study can promote their study interest. Forest bathing can be more effective to alleviate the anxiety of young adults with greater weight. The birch forest was recommended to be visited by students to alleviate the pressure of employment worry, and the oak forest was recommended to be visited by girls.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The tree-species-specific effect of forest bathing on perceived anxiety alleviation of young-adults in urban forests

Guan

Wei

et al. 2017

Ann. For. Res.

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“…Regarding the study design, 11 studies used a crossover trial design and only six of the studies [16,[18][19][20][21][22] used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. Four out of six RCT design studies were conducted with adults with health problems.…”

Section: Study Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For articles published in English, nine studies [12,19,21,22,25,28,29,34,39] used POMS to assess the level of depression and three studies [28,29,39] used Semantic differential (SD) method. Other scales used by the studies included the Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression [20], Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) [16,20,24,31], positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS) [34]. For studies published in Korean, the POMS [15,23,26,27,32,38] and BDI [13][14][15]17,18,35] were the most commonly used scale.…”

Section: Depression Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other scales used to measure depression were the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) [38], Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression [17], Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scales [17], Symptom Check List (SCL-90-R) [32], and Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) [36]. Fourteen studies [13,15,[17][18][19][21][22][23][24][25][26]28,29,39] used both self-report, paper-and-pencil questionnaires, and physiological measures, while 14 studies [12,14,16,20,27,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] used only selfreport, paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Physiological or objective measures included heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure, heart rate, and amylase concentration.…”

Section: Depression Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Forest Therapy on Depressive Symptoms among Adults: A Systematic Review

Lee

Choi

Bang

et al. 2017

Preprint

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This study systematically reviewed forest therapy programs designed to decrease the level of depression among adults and assessed the methodological rigor and scientific evidence quality of existing research studies to guide future studies. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The authors independently screened full-text articles from various databases using the following criteria: (1) intervention studies assessing the effects of forest therapy on depressive symptoms in adults aged 18 years and older; (2) studies including at least one control group or condition; (3) peer-reviewed studies; and (4) been published either in English or Korean before July 2016. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network measurement tool was used to assess the risk of bias in each trial. In the final sample, 28 articles (English: 13, Korean: 15) were included in the systematic review. We concluded that forest therapy is an emerging and effective intervention for decreasing adults' depression levels. However, the included studies lacked methodological rigor. Future studies assessing the long-term effect of forest therapy on depression using rigorous study designs are needed.

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Principal sensory experiences of forest visitors in four countries, for evidence‐based nature therapy

Buckley,

Cooper,

Zhong

2024

People and Nature

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To advance the theoretical and practical underpinnings for nature therapies, i.e. nature exposure as a means to improve mental health, we compared the most memorable sensory experiences reported by forest tourists in Australia, Chile, China and Japan. Sensory experiences are a fundamental driver of the psychological effects of nature exposure. We first reviewed relevant research from each country and language. We then conducted 100 on‐site interviews in Australia, 100 in Chile, and >500 in China, and compiled 1000 relevant social media posts from Japan. We analysed these datasets using directed‐content qualitative thematic analyses, both in original languages and in translated texts, and compared outcomes from each country. The key sensory experiences are universal: sights of plant shapes and colours; sounds of birdsong, running water and rustling leaves; smells of flowers, trees, and earth; taste and temperature of clean air and water; and touch of bark and rocks. Participants gave detailed descriptions of each. These fine‐grained but widespread experiences are our principal finding. These sensory experiences are at a scale that is broad enough to apply for prescriptible nature therapies in any forested region, but fine enough to be used in future quantitative research to test therapeutic designs, doses and durations. This distinguishes them from prior research, that is either too broad or too fine in scale for practical therapy design. Future research aiming to maximise the mental health benefits of nature may not need to distinguish different countries and cultures, but may need to differentiate nature experiences more finely and precisely than in most therapy‐related research to date. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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The effects of forest therapy on depression and anxiety in patients with chronic stroke

Abstract: Forest therapy is beneficial for treating depression and anxiety symptoms in patients with chronic stroke, and may be particularly useful in patients who cannot be treated with standard pharmacological or electroconvulsive therapies.

Cited by 142 publications

References 20 publications

The tree-species-specific effect of forest bathing on perceived anxiety alleviation of young-adults in urban forests

The tree-species-specific effect of forest bathing on perceived anxiety alleviation of young-adults in urban forests

Effects of Forest Therapy on Depressive Symptoms among Adults: A Systematic Review

Principal sensory experiences of forest visitors in four countries, for evidence‐based nature therapy

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