Michael DeSantis

Professor Thomas

UWRT 1102-004

April 10, 2018

Annotated Bibliography

Since the my focus of study is based on the establishment of a relationship between

nature and mental health. It is also ensured that all the arguments are in favor of mental health

benefits and in the context of nature. A reader will find both the advantages and disadvantages

both in the context of nature. The arguments presented in the study are according to the benefits

of nature on mental health compared with drawbacks in case a person does not gets involved

with nature.

Mental Retardation: Nature, cause, and management

For my first annotated bibliography I choose the study on stress and how it is one of the

biggest problems faced by people of all the ages, especially people belonging to the age group of

people over the age of 40 years. This study was done by Baroff & Olley, psychologists from

UNC-Chapel Hill, in 2014. This study has been republished many times since the 70s. These two

psychologists had groundbreaking work that started with there studies on mental retardation and
the cause. I read their book Mental Retardation: Nature, cause, and management. This was an

interesting book to myself because I was able to test their findings with my own brother. I have

found, similar to what Professors Baroff and Olley found that people with autism, like my

brother, react positively to exposure to nature.

A few things I took away where

● “From an early age people with mental retardation are looked at as outcast

because of this they are not exposed to the outdoors as much as their

counterparts”

● “Mental retardation occurs more with people who have behaviour problems”

● “Nature was seen to calm participants as they were at peace”

Analysis:

I started out with this research paper because I have an autistic brother and my theory of

mental health and nature stemmed from taking him outside. This book gave me the solid data

behind what I have been thinking with my own personal experiences of taking my brother

outside for walks or playing at the pool.

Source:

https://books.google.com/books?id=OKq3AwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_Vie

wAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false

Baroff, George S. “Mental Retardation: Nature, Cause, and Management.” doi:

10.1107/s2052520617010769/ps5062sup1.cif.
 Decision making as a window on cognition

The findings of Michael N. Shadlen a neuroscientist from columbia and Roozbeh Kiani

psychologist from NYU presented the argument that poor mental health has many drawbacks,

which include problems related to the social well-being such as depression. However, nature is

the best way of healing the problems related to the poor mentality. These professors have been in

the field of decision making for their entire careers and have had countless studies on the way

humans make decisions. It is believed that depression is the worst possible disease, which results

in the poor development of the mindsets and in increased circumstances. However, not a single

study supported the statement that depression increases the dangers of psychological impacts.

● “While decision making, per se, fascinates, what makes the neuroscience of DM

special is the insight it promises on a deeper topic.”

● “One might wonder why the brain would allow for such inefficiency. “
● “Freeing your mind of distractions will increase the ability of decision making”
Analysis:
In the article by these two psychologies they talked about the social well-being of
participants. In a later study I found that this is a cause of social interactions among clients when
outdoors. I believe this is the same case here.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3852636/

Kiani, Roozbeh. “Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of

Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720.
Https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.” doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.

Urban-rural differences in the nature and prevalence of mental ill-health in adults with
intellectual disabilities.
Although benefits of nature are more in numbers, when a person interacts with nature,

most of nature related benefits are reported in the woods only. For example, the research article

presented by Roozbeh Kiani and Tyler Stillman two professors that have worked on other

research projects together that have been published on a wide variety of scientific journals wrote

in 2013 about the Urban-rural differences in the nature and the prevalence of mental ill-health in

adults with intellectual disabilities, they found that arguing that simply looking out of the

window does not produce results according to the expectations, and it is necessary that high

physical activity should be incorporated for achieving maximum benefits. They crossed

researched almost 3000 people from rural and urban communities to find their results.

● No differences were observed between gender, age and level of ID of service

users based on their place of residence.

 ● Differences between diagnoses of mental illness in urban and rural areas were

evaluated using the chi-squared test for the difference in two independent

proportions.

● Lastly that more research would need to be done to see the inconsistencies with

this study compared to others.

Analysis:

Of all the studies I read this was the only study that talked about the benefits of the

woods. In this research paper they talked about that not only does nature help but the benefits of

woods is even more beneficial to your mental health. What people should take away from this is

to have better zoning in cities. Some cities have taken action with this by mandating having trees

every so often.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22292906

Iyer, Lakshminarayan M., et al. “Polyvalent Proteins, a Pervasive Theme in the Intergenomic

Biological Conflicts of Bacteriophages and Conjugative Elements.” Journal of

Bacteriology, vol. 199, no. 15, 2017, doi:10.1128/jb.00245-17.

Picture not able to be found

Good practice in social prescribing for mental health: The role of nature-based

interventions

Another recent study carried out by Bragg & Leck in 2017 from the Natural Environment

White Paper The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature in the Department for

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a credible government department in great britain that has

had a history of successful studies and new findings, investigated how sceneries impact on the
stress level of a person. The investigators were required to observe slides of nature for 10

minutes, followed by a task inducing mental stress. The Investigators reported an increased level

of the parasympathetic nervous system, which resulted in high level of decision-making abilities.

Studies carried out in the context of mental health have reported that nature has positive impacts

not only on mental health, social health is also improved. Nature is also comprised of the high

level of green systems, the benefits of which are explained in the next parts of the study.

● an average increase of 69% in self-reported well-being (using the Warwick and

Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale)

● at least four patients signing up for further training and/or volunteering activities

● at least two patients reducing, or expecting to reduce, prescribed medicines.

Analysis:

What I took away from this study was the process of how they gathered information. By

having participants be outside in nature with green spaces then be tested with high stress level

tests. What observers should take away from this piece is if you have a task say an exam that is

stressful it is helpful if you first spend time outside before taking it.

Source: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5134438692814848

Li, Chunyong, et al. “Negligible Shift of 3Ag- Potential in Longer-Chain Carotenoids as

Revealed by a Single Persistent Peak of 3Ag-→1Ag- Stimulated Emission

Followed by 3Ag-←1Ag- Transient-Absorption.” Chemical Physics Letters,

vol. 450, no. 1-3, 2007, pp. 112–118., doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2007.10.091.

 Doses of Neighborhood Nature: The Benefits for Mental Health of Living with Nature

In the study by Daniel T. C. Cox Danielle F. Shanahan Hannah L. Hudson Kate E.

Plummer Gavin M. Siriwardena Richard A. Fuller Karen AndersonSteven Hancock Kevin J.

Gaston, about the “Doses of Neighborhood Nature” and how the Benefits for Mental Health of

Living with Nature I found that the wide diverse group of experienced scientist from there

respected universities and institutions that they had more years of experience and credibility than

anyone else in the bibliography. What I found in there study was that it might seem intuitive to

think that spending time outside has positive impacts on the mental health of the people.

Whether, it is walking outside the house or in the park smelling the flowers, getting outside in

green areas has many benefits in terms of better feeling. The impact of green spaces on the
mental health is real, and scientists have reported that nature is one of the best sources of

reducing the stress level of the people.

● The economic costs of anxiety and mood disorders, such as depression, have been

estimated at €187.4 billion per year for Europe alone

● This growing problem has, at least in part, been attributed to the increasing

disconnect between people and the natural world that is resulting from more

urbanized, sedentary lifestyles

● Increasingly, evidence suggests that the availability and quality of neighborhood

green spaces are associated with greater well-being (White et al. 2013) and lower

levels of depression, anxiety, and stress

Analysis:

This study dealt with the benefits of nature in terms of stress level. In personal

experimenting with this I have also found that stress levels drop when exposed to the outdoors. I

believe this is because of the extra oxygen in the going to your head allowing you to relax more.

This study is going to be helpful for college students and professionals alike because of the high

stress level between the two groups.

Source: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/67/2/147/2900179

“Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw.

(Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e7720.

Https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.” doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.
 Growing up, naturally: The mental health legacy of early nature affiliation.

In this study about “Growing up, naturally: The mental health legacy of early nature

affiliation by Eric Windhorst who has an extensive psychiatry practice in canada that people

have traveled far and wide to get his expertise and his counterpart Allison Williams who also has

her own practice wrote a fantastic piece about the social benefits of nature and how they are also

according to the social well-being objectives of a person. They studied the experiences of their

clients about what they did in their childhood and their relation to nature. People in the study that

were found with higher levels of exposure to nature ended up having a higher satisfaction or

overall well being.

● Participants measuring higher in nature connectedness reported having had more

positive childhood nature experiences than less nature-affiliated students.

● People around a child foster a bond with nature not only by giving the child

freedom to move about and engage autonomously with natural areas, but also by

their own example....By the direction and quality of their attention, they

communicate nature’s value and promote the child’s interest in this world too.
 ● The relationship between nature connectedness and well-being might be

explained by the fact that people who are more nature connected tend to spend

more time in natural places.

Analysis:

My analysis here shows that clients of the researchers who had more exposure to the

outdoors showed higher satisfaction. My theory behind this is that children who are outside are

likely to be socializing with others. Whether it is in a sport or simply playing outside. Socializing

with others and growing relationships in the end helps with life satisfaction.

Source: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/eco.2015.0040

Windhorst, Eric, and Allison Williams. “Growing Up, Naturally: The Mental Health Legacy of

Early Nature Affiliation.” Ecopsychology, vol. 7, no. 3, 2015, pp. 115–125.,

doi:10.1089/eco.2015.0040.

Mental health is an abominable mess: Mind and nature is a necessary unity

 Nick Drury is a psychologist that works for the government of New Zealand.

Government agencies throughout my course of study have proven to be reliable sources because

of their massive funding and responsibility to be credible. I found in his research thesis that the

impact of the green system on the mental health is real, and over the last 20 years, scientists have

observed that nature has positive impacts on the social well-being of the person and on the social

decision-making abilities of the person. Moreover, it is also argued that green nature has positive

impacts on the mental health in high numbers when a person exercises daily in the park.

● 'lab-clinic' gap may well be bridged by reviewing the philosophical foundations

underlying the delivery of mental health services

● This not only shows much promise for dissolving the 'lab-clinic' gap in mental health, but

also has strong implications for our ecological health

Analysis:

My analysis of from this article comes from the simple benefit of green places. I found

this benefit from quite a few articles. Here it talked about daily walks in the park. This simple

task like others had the same benefits. It showed a better social well-being of all people tested.

Source:http://web.b.ebscohost.com/abstract?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=cr

awler&jrnl=0112109X&AN=95414132&h=R278CztJN1Qf6pY5Vtu9Ovptvy7KsAHWaODN7

NRIwrA%2bkSY%2fxIOaK2FAUj4vZ1MTxFlDWf7lYYIoRxV54mdOsg%3d%3d&crl=f&resu

ltNs=AdminWebAuth&resultLocal=ErrCrlNotAuth&crlhashurl=login.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%2

6profile%3dehost%26scope%3dsite%26authtype%3dcrawler%26jrnl%3d0112109X%26AN%3d

95414132
“Late Arrival.” Science, vol. 296, no. 5566, Dec. 2002, pp. 253d–253.,

doi:10.1126/science.296.5566.253d.

No Picture found

Physical activity in nature and children's mental health

Stephanie Bless wrote it best in her thesis about the “Physical activity in nature and children’s

mental health. She has her masters of science from the University of Vermont and also wrote her

doctorate thesis for the University. She write that the nature sounds, which comprises of birds

voices also, have a soothing impact on the mindsets of people, reported that hearings of nature

have a significant impact on the recovery of stressful conditions, because of nature images. As

for the time being, researchers have also argued that walking in the green areas also produce

significant results for the social well-being of a person, because walking decreases stress

hormones. Therefore, it can be argued that nature helps in healing the mental disorders present in

the human life, and cures them slowly.

● Along with research that shows an association of physical activity with child wellness, a

significant body of research, which has investigated the relationship between nature and

children, has begun to emerge showing time spent in nature appears to improve

physiological and psychological measures in children.

 ● Youth from the US and Canada who participated in physical activity reported higher

levels of positive health indicators like self-image, physical health status, quality of life,

and quality of family and peer relationships.

● Participants were randomly prompted three to seven times per day to stop their current

activity to complete a two to three minute questionnaire on a mobile device. Results

indicated that physically active children showed greater stability in positive affect and

negative affect.

Analysis:

What I took away from this research paper was that children should be exposed to more

the outdoors. This comes from the benefits found in the paper showing the mental health when it

comes to the children's self-image is improved. Most children suffer from low self esteem so any

measure benefiting the self-image of children should be a measure we should enact.

Source:https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1505&context=graddis

Bless, Stephanie Marcia Bless. “Physical Activity in Nature and Children's Mental Health.”

ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2015,

scholarworks.uvm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1505&context=graddis.