Is Gardening good for Mental Health?

Rosa and teammates reviewed published studies and found that “some horticultural interventions plus usual care (i.e., continuing normal routine for healthy people or treatment for unhealthy ones) may reduce depressive symptoms more than usual care alone, with most studies suggesting a moderate . . . or large effect. . . .  Our findings suggest that some horticultural interventions are effective and safe to use as a complementary strategy to reduce adults’ depressive symptoms.”

Claudio Rosa, Talisson Chaves, Silvia Collado, Lincoln Larson, Kangjae Lee, and Christina Profice.  2023. “Horticultural Interventions May Reduce Adults’ Depressive Symptoms:  A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 91, 102112, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102112