198 - Friday Fix: How Growing a Garden Can Reduce Your Depression

The Verywell Mind Podcast

Dotdash Media Inc.

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Mental Health, Education

5 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2022

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There are many ways to treat depression — medication, individual therapy, group therapy, and transcranial magnetic stimulation to name a few. But there are also lifestyle changes that can sometimes provide effective relief from symptoms. Something as simple as growing a garden can sometimes be an effective way to improve mood and reduce stress. In fact, horticulture therapy has become an entire field of treatment for individuals who want to improve their well-being. From working in community gardens to growing plants at home — being in nature, getting physical activity, and working toward a goal are good for mental health. But there's something about caring for a plant, even if it's an indoor plant that provides extra benefits to our emotional well-being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.
0:22.9	This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.
0:45.7	Okay. You're listening to the Friday fix.
0:53.4	Every Friday, I share a quick mental strength strategy that can help fix the thoughts, feelings, and actions that can pull you back in life.
0:57.8	Today I'm talking about how growing plants can be good for your mental health.
1:02.5	I'll cover why gardening can be so good for you and what to do to get the most benefit.
1:08.6	But before I do, I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes at the idea of combating a mental health problem like depression with gardening.
1:12.3	I get it. If you told a friend that you were struggling with depression and they said,
1:16.7	oh, you know what would help? You should start a garden. That wouldn't feel very good.
1:21.6	Sometimes hearing things like, just go for a walk, you'll feel better. Sounds condescending.
1:29.7	But stick with me. I'm not saying that starting a garden is going to cure everything. For a lot of people, though, growing plants is a simple
1:35.3	but effective way to feel better. And there's a lot of science behind the idea that plants can
1:40.1	improve your mental health. In fact, there is an entire treatment called horticulture therapy
1:44.9	that involves gardening as a way to improve mental and physical health. To be clear, though,
1:50.2	I'm not a horticulture therapist, but I have seen the benefits of gardening firsthand. At my first
1:56.3	job as a therapist, I worked at a community mental health center who happened to have a garden.
2:01.5	The organization that I worked for was very much into evidence-based treatment, meaning that
2:06.6	they didn't do anything unless there was a lot of science behind that particular form of
2:10.8	treatment. They weren't really into experimental things or treatment strategies that were
2:15.8	a little bit out there. So at first I was really surprised
2:19.1	that they were so into gardening. It seemed a little too creative and not quite scientific enough
2:24.9	compared to the other treatment models that they used. This particular mental health center
	...

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