The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health
Author: Sam Gandy1,2, Matthias Forstmann3, Robin Lester Carhart-Harris1, Christopher Timmermann1, David Luke1,4, Rosalind Watts1,2
Affiliation:
1 Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, UK.
2 Synthesis Institute, The Netherlands.
3 University of Zurich, Switzerland.
4 University of Greenwich, UK.
Conference/Journal: Health Psychol Open
Date published: 2020 Dec 6
Other:
Volume ID: 7 , Issue ID: 2 , Pages: 2055102920978123 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1177/2055102920978123. , Word Count: 117
Therapeutic psychedelic administration and contact with nature have been associated with the same psychological mechanisms: decreased rumination and negative affect, enhanced psychological connectedness and mindfulness-related capacities, and heightened states of awe and transcendent experiences, all processes linked to improvements in mental health amongst clinical and healthy populations. Nature-based settings can have inherently psychologically soothing properties which may complement all stages of psychedelic therapy (mainly preparation and integration) whilst potentiating increases in nature relatedness, with associated psychological benefits. Maximising enhancement of nature relatedness through therapeutic psychedelic administration may constitute an independent and complementary pathway towards improvements in mental health that can be elicited by psychedelics.
Keywords: drug effects; health promotion; health psychology; psychedelics; well-being.
PMID: 33335742 PMCID: PMC7724423 DOI: 10.1177/2055102920978123
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