Posted on July 29, 2008 in Latest News
Are you uneasy about the future of the planet? Any incident made you panic about the nature? Feeling anxious about natural systems? Here is the solution for your anxieties and worries. A small but growing number of psychotherapists now offer a treatment designed to keep your worries away as well as to reduce carbon footprints: ecopsychology.
What Is Ecopsychology?
While encouraging patients to develop a relationship to nature, ecopsychology examines personal interactions and family systems. Ecopsychology is an evolved technique of traditional therapy.
Ecopsychotherapy Practice:
“Global warming has added an additional list of anxieties to what people are already feeling,” said Sandy Shulmire of Portland, Oregon, a psychologist and ecopsychotherapist. He uses several techniques, like encouraging patients besieged by multitasking to spend more time outdoors and exploring how their family background influence their approach towards the nature.
Is Ecopsychotherapy a scientific method?
Some other therapists offer strategies for eco-anxiety in several private sessions, or lead discussion groups for the conservation-minded. In fact, ecopsychology lacks a proven scientific journal, and no Sigmund Freud-type figure has completely developed its theory.
The American Psychological Association says:
As of now, the American Psychological Association is not entering into the issues of ecopsychology, and it remains neutral toward the practice. “Ecopsychology is an emerging field of study, and we are keenly watching it,” said Kim Mills, a spokeswoman for the APA.
Benefits from Ecopsychology:
“If a patient is suffering from an anxiety disorder, in fact, he or she is going to be worrying about almost everything,” said Dr. Scott 0. Lilienfeld, professor of psychology in Atlanta. “Ecopsychology can help patients infer their own feelings about the nature,” said Thomas Doherty, who teaches ecopsychology in Portland.
Dr. Doherty advises clients with global warming anxiety to identify their own concern about the issue and accept the limits of what they can control. Ms. Angeline Tiamson, who took Dr. Doherty’s ecopsychology class, has embarked on a new way of thinking. She said, “you can not have a fruitful relationship with anything if you are afraid or feel guilty.” “You have to love it first,” she added.
‘How we look’ reflects on ‘what we feel’. If we look the nature with a pleasant feeling, then it looks exotic.
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