Spaces that Heal

What specifically makes an environment that is healing?

What comes to mind when you think of a place you would enjoy spending time while healing from a physical sickness or an emotional one? I envision a cozy room with plenty of blankets and a fresh breeze moving through the room. Many of us have different ideas of what it would look like in a space that would help us heal. So, Is there research that backs up that specific spaces help in the healing process? We hear so much about how nature is healing, and many of us relate to this in the way a hike near a waterfall or a walk in the park under the shade of trees can offer a respite. Environmental psychologists have a large body of evidence attesting to the role played by the landscape in the treatment, recovery, and maintenance of human health (Gesler, 2018). The healing process is multidimensional because it deals with the biological, mental, emotional, and spiritual.

Fascination is a phenomenon, according to researchers, when something exciting or interesting happens, and we look to discover what is going on. It can be described as “attention that requires no attention at all” For example, one might experience this when they move from one place to another and notice their attention shift from mind chatter to a fascination with the sunset caught outside their kitchen window. In this space, a shift from the environment affects our consciousness. Here we can see how the unconscious element of this shift in the environment takes the weight off of the desire to fix something. We can all relate to this fixation on what is coming next or what we need to “fix” that takes up much space in our heavy minds. In this shift into fascination, peace, and calmness takes the center. When our directed attention needs to rest, “it is necessary to find another basis for maintaining one’s focus. This re-directing can be experienced consciously by finding a calming space to meditate or unconsciously in how a therapy room calms the nervous system, or a brisk walk outside takes one to focus on the blue sky and nature and off of whatever else was floating through one's mind at the time... Either way, we all need those breaks to “ reset, “ and the benefits are profound.

Connection with a place: Topophilia (from the ancient Greek topos: place and philia: love, attachment) means that human feelings, values, and attitudes toward the world are geographically “embedded” (Gesler, 2018). Specific places and restorative environments are significantly associated with quality of life. Being in a non-threatening natural environment reduces the physical indicators connected with stress, such as blood pressure, heart rate, serum cortisol (Gesler, W. (2018). We can see how access to specific settings varies amongst people from different socioeconomic backgrounds and parts of the world, which are more rural versus urban.

The Therapeutic Landscape is a theory informed by ideas from cultural ecology, structuralism, and humanism. The concept has been widely used in health geography and other social sciences to study specific sites such as parks, marginalized populations such as the mentally ill, health care facilities such as hospitals, and imaginary geographies in art and literature. As a therapist, I am curious about how we view spaces as healing. The impact that spaces can have on our mental health and the people of the next generations is an important topic. How we create safe spaces for people to heal, and how we can find places to reset ourselves throughout our daily lives by reconnecting with our environment (Menatti & Casado da Rocha, 2016).

References

Gesler, W. (2018). Therapeutic landscapes. The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1422

Menatti, L. & Casado da Rocha, A. (2016). Landscape and health: Connecting psychology, aesthetics, and philosophy through the concept of affordance. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00571