Alternative therapies for depression – such as country walks and care farms, where patients are prescribed agricultural work – are being ignored as Britain becomes ever more reliant on chemical treatments, campaigners say.

Findings from two studies released today suggest that “ecotherapy” – which includes such simple exercises as outdoor walks – can improve a person’s poor mental health dramatically. The studies have prompted calls for the approach to become a recognised frontline treatment.

Ecotherapy: The Green Agenda for Mental Health, in which the studies are published, is the first report to look at how “green” exercise affects those suffering from depression.

Researchers from the University of Essex compared the benefits of a 30-minute walk in a country park with a walk in an indoor shopping centre on 20 people affected by depression.

After the country walk, 71 per cent said that they felt less depressed and tense while 90 per cent reported increased self-esteem. After the walk in the shopping centre only 45 per cent felt less depressed and 22 per cent actually felt more depressed. About 50 per cent felt more tense and 44 per cent said that their self-esteem had dropped.

The researchers conducted another study in which they asked 108 people with various mental health problems about their experiences of ecotherapy. Ninety-four per cent said that green activities had benefited their mental health and lifted depression and 90 per cent said that the combination of nature and exercise had the greatest effect.

The mental health charity Mind described ecotherapy as “getting outdoors and getting active in a green environment as a way of boosting mental wellbeing”.

The charity said that if it was prescribed as part of main-stream practice, ecotherapy could potentially help millions of people. It would also be vastly cheaper than antidepressant drugs.

Mind said that Britain lagged behind the rest of Europe in prescribing agricultural work to treat mental distress. The Netherlands had 600 care farms operating as a fully integrated part of the health service, while Britain had only 43, the charity said, and none was dedicated to mental health.

Paul Farmer, Mind’s chief executive, said: “It is a credible, clinically valid treatment option and needs to be prescribed by GPs, especially when for many people access to treatments other than antidepressants is extremely limited.

“We’re not saying that ecotherapy can replace drugs but that the debate needs to be broadened.”

The ecotherapy report will be published today at the start of Mind week, which is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health. This morning Mind will hold a mass kiteflying event in Primrose Hill, North London.

On prescription

—SSRIs include citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine, paroxetine (Seroxat) and sertraline (Lustral). They block the uptake of the mood chemical serotonic into the cell that releases it, prolonging its action

—SNRIs include venlafaxine and duloxetine. They slow the reuptake of serotonin and noradrenaline

—Tricyclics can affect heart and circulatory system

—Monoamine oxidase inhibitors have more serious side-effects, and are prescribed when SSRis and tricyclics have failed

—SSRIs are generally better tolerated than older antidepressants. Anxiolytics may be used alongside antidepressants to help to treat severe agitation

Source: Times database

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