Nature and mental health: An ecosystem… | Healthy Trees, Healthy Lives

Nature and mental health: An ecosystem services perspective

Relatively little research has been on ecosystem services to the ways in which nature experience directly affects human mental health, with a few important exceptions.This omission is particularly concerning in light of indications that mental illness accounts for a substantial proportion of suffering in all regions of the world.

Bratman, GN et al

Science Advances, 5(7), July 2019, eaax0903

The fraction of the total global burden of disease attributed to mental illness has recently been estimated to be as high as 32% of total years lived with disability and 13% of disability-adjusted life-years, on par with cardiovascular and circulatory diseases.