An article from Medical News Today caught my eye. It's about something I've always believed to be true:

Going for a green walk in a park or countryside where one is surrounded by nature reduces depression whereas walking in a shopping centre or urban setting increases depression.

Note the contrast. Walking in all that green and lovely natural beauty or walking in a crowded mall, jostled by other shoppers, looking at items in store windows that you don't really need and can't really afford. Being run over by teenagers on skateboards.

My mother knew the difference between natural beauty and the cold, harsh, reality of man-made things. It doesn't matter if what man has made is supposed to be to honor God. She always said she felt closer to God in her garden among her flowers than she did in any church.

The Online Paxil News Blog says:

The charity Mind yesterday called for 'ecotherapy' to be recommended by GPs to patients with mental health problems as a potential alternative to antidepressants. It said the number of antidepressants prescribed by doctors had increased 6% in the past year, including a 10% rise in SSRIs.

Ecotherapy - outdoor activities such as walking in a park or gardening - should be considered instead as it was low cost, available to most people and had no negative side-effects, the charity added.