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Walking in Nature Eases Negative Symptoms in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder
Walking in nature may improve negative affect in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD), suggests findings published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
The randomized controlled study compared walking in nature with walking in urban settings in patients with MDD. Previous studies have shown walking in nature to boost mood more than urban walking in adults from the general population.
Researchers recruited 37 adults, average age 49 years, receiving outpatient care MDD. Participants were randomly assigned to a single 60-minute walk in either a nature or urban setting. Patients were assessed using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) before the walk, halfway through the walk, immediately after the walk, at home before bed, 24 hours after the walk, and 48 hours after the walk.
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Compared with patients who walked in urban settings, patients who walked in nature showed overall lower levels of negative symptoms after researchers controlled for baseline levels before the walk, according to the study.
Negative affect scores were lower at all six PANAS assessment timepoints in patients who walked in nature compared with those who walked in urban settings, Psychiatry Advisor reported: mean 18.80 vs 25.06 before the walk, 13.45 vs 17.77 halfway through, 12.00 vs 17.11 immediately afterward, 13.78 vs 21.00 before bed, 15.00 vs 23.25 a day later, and 16.28 vs 23.33 two days later. The significantly lower negative affect scores at baseline among patients who walked in nature were a major limitation of the study, the article noted.
Walking in nature did not improve positive affect, the study found.
“Walking in nature might be a useful strategy to improve negative affect in adults with major depressive disorder,” concluded corresponding author Marie-Claude Geoffroy, PhD, McGill University Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and coauthors. “Future research should investigate different ways to integrate the beneficial effects of nature exposure into existing treatment plans for psychiatric outpatients with major depressive disorder.”
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