Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Ecopsychological approaches to trauma

Ecopsychological approaches to trauma:
How can nature-based therapies assist in emotional healing from trauma?

Multimedia presentation (3 min)

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Overview

It's strange to think that as humans, we are the only animal that sees ourselves as seperate to nature. We constantly

• Human's are linked to nature, our bodies and minds are geared towards this (Conn, 1998)
• Trauma is something that occurs in the mind and body which inevitably can be soothed by our connection to nature (Milton & Corbett, 2011)

Figure 1. Ben experiencing a healing walk through nature while undertaking Wilderness Therapy

• Nature- based therapy has been used to treat traumatised people for years, i.e. soldiers in the second world war (Lebedev & Kopytin, 2022)

The Overview is typically consists of one to four paragraphs inbetween the scenario and focus questions. Suggested word count aim for the Overview: 180 to 330 words.

Case study Ben is a 16 year old boy who has experienced extensive childhood trauma and is experiencing symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder such as trouble with sleeping and concentrating, experiences intense flashbacks to adverse childhood experiences, feelings of anger and irritability, self-destructive behaviour (drinking and social media addiction) and feels he is in a constant state of hyper-vigilance. Ben’s parent’s sign him up for a Wilderness Therapy course (see figure 1) which utilises adventuring in the great outdoors to help struggling young people to improve how they feel, cope and relate to others. Ben initially feels annoyed at his parents and slightly fearful about being sent away to quietly contemplate nature and can’t see the point of it for the first few days. However, as his nervous system is slowly soothed by the quiet of the forest, and he is safely guided by the therapists, he begins to feel more at ease in his body. He feels like he is able to connect with people more and when he gets angry he is able to calm himself down more easily and generally feels more at peace. Ben begins to feels at home in the forest and feels able to be present and enjoy the sensory experiences of the wilderness without needing to distract himself with his iphone or drinking. He leaves feeling more connected to himself and his surroundings and hasn't experienced a flashback in weeks, he’s excited to see his family and move forward with his life.

Focus questions: 1. What is an ecopsychological approach to trauma? 2. What is nature-based therapy? 3. What are the key elements of trauma? 4. How can nature-based therapy assist in people's emotional healing from trauma? 5. What are the key psychological theories that underpin nature-based therapy and trauma-centred therapy?

What is trauma?

• How is

Theories of Ecopsychology

• Aim for three to six main headings inbetween the Overview and Conclusion
• Sub-headings can also be used, but
  • avoid having sections with only one sub-heading

Nonduality

• (Davis, 2011)

Humanistic perspective

• XXXX

Therapeutic Implications of Ecopsychology

Nature based therapies are xxx

Wilderness Therapy

(Pringle, 2024)

The Nature Growth Project

(Milton & Corbett, 2011)

Sensual Awareness Inventory

(Burns, 1998)

Ecopsychology and Trauma

• Provide at least three bullet-points per headingʔ and sub-heading, including for the Overview and Conclusion
• Include key citations

Nature and emotional healing

(Milton & Corbett, 2011)

Recent Research

(Joschko et al., 2023)

Figures

Figure 2. Example of an image with a descriptive caption.

• Use figures to illustrate concepts, add interest, and to serve as examples
• Figures can show photos, diagrams, graphs, video, audio, etcetera
• Embed figures throughout the chapter, including the Overview section
• Figures should be captioned (using Figure #. and a caption). Use captions to explain the relevance of the image to the text/
• Wikimedia Commons provides a library of embeddable images
• Images can also be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons if they are openly licensed
• Refer to each figure at least once in the main text (e.g., see Figure 2)

Learning features

Interactive learning features help to bring online book chapters to life and can be embedded throughout the chapter.

Scenarios

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• Case studies can be real or fictional
• A case study could be split into multiple boxes throughout a chapter (e.g., to illustrate different theories or stages)
• It is often helpful to present case studies using feature boxes.

Feature boxes

• Important content can be highlighted in a feature box. But don't overuse feature boxes, otherwise they lose their effect.
• Consider using feature boxes for:
  • Scenarios, case studies, or examples
  • Focus questions
  • Tips
  • Quiz questions
  • Take-home messages

Links

• When key words are introduced, use interwiki links to:
  • Wikipedia (e.g., Sigmund Freud wrote about (e.g., dreams) or
  • Related book chapters (e.g., writer's block)

Tables

• Use to organise and summarise information
• As with figures, tables should be captioned
• Refer to each table at least once in the main text (e.g., see Table 1)
• Example 3 x 3 tables which could be adapted

Table 1. Descriptive Caption Which Explains The Table and its Relevant to the Text - Johari Window Model

	Known to self	Not known to self
Known to others	Open area	Blind spot
Not known to others	Hidden area	Unknown

Quizzes

• Using one or two review questions per major section is usually better than a long quiz at the end
• Quiz conceptual understanding, rather than trivia
• Don't make quizzes too hard
• Different types of quiz questions are possible; see Quiz

Example simple quiz questions. Choose your answers and click "Submit":

1 Quizzes are an interactive learning feature:

	True
	False

2 Long quizzes are a good idea:

	True
	False

Conclusion

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
• It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages? (Even for the topic development, have a go at the likely take-home message)

See also

• Ecopsychology (Wikipedia)
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Wikiversity)
• Nature therapy (Book chapter, 2022)

References

Burns, G. W. (1998). Nature-Guided therapy: A case example of ecopsychology in clinical practice. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 3(2), 9–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03400690

Conn, S. A. (1998). Living in the Earth: Ecopsychology, health and psychotherapy. The Humanistic Psychologist, 26(1-3), 179–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.1998.9976972

Davis, J. (2011). Ecopsychology, transpersonal psychology, and nonduality. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 30(1-2). https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2011.30.1-2.137

Joschko, L., Pálsdóttir, A. M., Grahn, P., & Hinse, M. (2023). Nature-Based Therapy in Individuals with Mental Health Disorders, with a Focus on Mental Well-Being and Connectedness to Nature—A Pilot Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(3), 2167. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032167

Lebedev, A., & Kopytin, A. (2022). Ecological/Nature-Assisted art therapy with war veterans: How nature can heal the trauma of war. In Ecopoiesis (pp. 152–169). Jessica Kingsley Publishers. https://www.thecreateinstitute.org/uploads/9/4/7/4/9474350/ecopoiesis.pdf#page=152

Milton, M., & Corbett, L. (2011). Ecopsychology: A Perspective on Trauma. European Journal of Ecopsychology, 2(1), 28–47.

Pringle, G. (2024). The healing potential of adventure for young people impacted by systematic adversity: A complex trauma-informed adventure therapy theory [Thesis]. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.34510.68162

Stevens, A., & Truong, S. (2024). Exploring therapeutic nature-based programs for individuals who have experienced trauma. Ebscohost.com. https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=13243aa2-8c49-4fc1-8c6c-ba9346377b84%40redis

List cited references in APA style (7th ed.) or wiki style.

APA style example:

Rosenberg, B. D., & Siegel, J. T. (2018). A 50-year review of psychological reactance theory: Do not read this article. Motivation Science, 4(4), 281–300. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000091

Suggestions for this section: Important aspects of APA style for references include: Wrap the set of references in the hanging indent template. Use "Edit source": {{Hanging indent|1= the full list of references}} Author surname, followed by a comma, then the author initials separated by full stops and spaces Year of publication in parentheses Title of work in lower case except first letter and proper names, ending in a full-stop Journal title in italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses, first and last page numbers separated by an en-dash(–), followed by a full-stop Provide the full doi as a URL and working hyperlink The most common mistakes include: Incorrect capitalisation Incorrect italicisation Citing sources that weren't read or consulted

External links

Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:

• Six top tips for writing a great essay (University of Melbourne)
• The importance of structure (skillsyouneed.com)

Suggestions for this section: Only select links to major external resources about the topic Present in alphabetical order Include the source in parentheses after the link