The Well-Gardened Mind: The Healing Power of Plants, Earth, and the Outdoors

結合心理治療與園藝，文筆優美、引人入勝的精彩作品！

 

　　現代城市生活的快速步調與科技發展，帶來不斷累積的心理壓力，也使我們逐漸失去與自然的連結。而園藝，或許是一個舒緩情緒的好方法？

 

　　如今，當人們想要在忙碌的生活中得到喘息的空間，常常會選擇到野外享受與大自然共處的時光。精神科醫師、心理治療師Sue Stuart-Smith，同時也是一名園藝愛好者，在本書與讀者分享植物所帶來的治療益處。本書不僅僅探討園藝作為心理治療的方式，作者本身除醫學背景外，更同時具有文學學位，透過廣博的知識和引人入勝的文字，深入心理學、文學、醫學及歷史等領域，介紹不同文化中園藝的發展歷程，以及精神療養院、監獄等利用園藝進行心理治療的實際案例，也寫下自身接觸園藝的過程，分享如何藉由親近大自然，實質減輕我們的壓力、促進心理健康。

 

　　從「園藝」出發，《The Well-Gardened Mind》帶領讀者踏上超乎想像的豐富探索之旅，帶來一部充滿綠意、花香，同時兼具深度與廣度的迷人作品。(文/博客來編譯)

 

　　A distinguished psychiatrist and avid gardener offers an inspiring and consoling work about the healing effects of gardening and its ability to decrease stress and foster mental well-being in our everyday lives.

 

　　The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. But when we get our hands in the earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Gardening is one of the quintessential nurturing activities and yet we understand so little about it. The Well-Gardened Mind provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people’s lives. Here, Sue Stuart-Smith investigates the many ways in which mind and garden can interact and explores how the process of tending a plot can be a way of sustaining an innermost self.

 

　　Stuart-Smith’s own love of gardening developed as she studied to become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. From her grandfather’s return from World War I to Freud’s obsession with flowers to case histories with her own patients to progressive gardening programs in such places as Rikers Island prison in New York City, Stuart-Smith weaves thoughtful yet powerful examples to argue that gardening is much more important to our cognition than we think. Recent research is showing how green nature has direct antidepressant effects on humans. Essential and pragmatic, The Well-Gardened Mind is a book for gardeners and the perfect read for people seeking healthier mental lives.