Gardening for Mental health

Thank you @wiseowl, these are beautiful!!! I will try and find you a mouse in return!!

 

Hey Val
Missed you .....
Glad you are on the mend!

 

Your words are so true.
I'm sorry that you are still suffering from depression and hope that with the coming spring and summer, you'll be able to get out in the garden more. It's so therapeutic and as you say, there's nothing to loose, but everything to gain.

In the past I suffered from severe panic attacks for many years and wasn't able to leave the house. I must tell you that it was the garden that got me starting to get out again.

Good luck for the future ... Stay positive ! You'll conquer the depression in the end, as I did the panic attacks ...
and I hope your garden flourishes

 

I would think being outside and doign something keeping yoru midn busy would be beneficial.

 

Hello Sarah
May I offer my congratulations on such well written and honest account of your problem. It might be said that at some time in our lives, we all suffer from some kind of depression. Having looked into this condition. I am inclined to believe that perhaps the most difficult aspect of depression is, to convince oneself that you are NOT depressed.

Yes! I have and still do suffer bouts of depression. Most of us at times get down in the dumps, what over? Don't dwell on it. Now's the time to get up and exert oneself and push negative thinking out of your mind. Medication, IMO may appear to subdue the condition, but it seems to worsen the situation.

So why does taking an interest in gardening have such an effect? Irrespective of ones beliefs, albeit evolution or creation. There is no escape from the fact that we are so closely related the the earth, soil whatever. Our chemical makeup is the same, so as often said. Like attracts like.

I particularly liked your mention of, being in the garden and suddenly seeing all that was going on around you. In todays world, we tend to have no time to stand and stare. Our lives seem to have speeded up so much. For the office workers, what happened to the lunch break. Now it's eat on the hoof at the same time being on the mobile phone. We are missing out so much on the beauties and wonders of life. No wonder we get down.

Taking time to stand and stare. Our garden gradually becomes a new world. Our wonderfully designed brains begin to act up and respond. Like you, most of us venture forth and have a go. Sowing a few seeds, and in time wow! new plants, also whilst tending our little new paradise. We notice other creatures are interested in our garden and it's plants. The insect etc. So already our minds and interests are expanding. The gardener is now becoming a naturalist also. So whenever you or I or any of our gardening friends start to feel, that cloud of depression coming over us. Cry out... bugger off and leave me alone. Sarah and others who have these problems inlife. I wish you well.

 

For those who remember the IRA bombings etc. I was head gardener at a Military hospital in South London. Due to the Official Secrets Act I have to be care what I say.

One day whilst tending the greenhouses, I noticed a patient, a soldier. The usual Hi mate resulted in a kind of blankness. I later found out,this chap was an Ethiopean soldier and couldn't speak a word of English. So here we were, two human beings brought together by acts of war and violence. For several days this chap would come by the greenhouses and stop and stare. Both of us at a loss of what to do next.
After a few days, I beckoned to him to come forward. I said hello to him and he sadly spoke with his eyes. Sorry I don't understand you. I extended my hand infriendship and he took it and suddenly one barrier had been overcome. My thoughts even to this day, a lifetime past. What kind of world was that chap a prisoner in. How did the medics deal with him, not bring disrespective but, it must have been like taking ones pet to the vets. The vet or in this case the medics had to find out what was wrong.

So several days passed and bang on time, my new found freiend would turn up. A big smile and always that warm strong handshake. Being as I have always had such a great love for fellow man, I was so often troubled that this chap in a foreighn land, no friends and no means of communication. Surely he must have been depressed as much as I was.

I beckoned him into the main GH and by way of arm gestures invited him to view the plants. He seemed to be interested in geraniums and coleus. I did my best to show him the difference in stem shapes etc. Then filling a seed tray, I indicated to him the flower of the geranium and the seed pod. Plucking one off I seperated the seeds and sowed them. Then in time, I showed him how to take cuttings. He was really keen now. ThenI saw him no more. However some time later the Commandant of the hospital requested me to attend his office.

Ah! Mr Allen, come in, take a seat. By this time I was really worried. Although in the past, I had been treated with much respect, as I was a civvy and they were military. If any time I had a bit of a cold etc. I would enter the A&E or whatever. Many service guys and gals would be waiting hoping to get an excused duty cert. Dr P as he was known would look out for the next patient, L/Cpl Whoever would rise from his seat, being the next in line. Ah! Mr Allen my friend, come on in, what can I do for you? That was the situation. Now what? Mr Allen. Sir, I prefer Mike. OK. Mike. Mr Allen it has come to my notice that you have devoted some special interest in one of our service patients. The Ethiopean soldier. Hell man it must have been diffigult for you both, the language barrier. Mr Allen I am of course concerned about our patients. Some will be discharged to civvy street. Mr Allen might I ask you. Would you please consider giving a talk to our patients about the benefits of gardening. So began my lectures etc.

 

I'd like to say well done to the OP for raising this, and her very well-written thoughts on the subject, and to all of you for coming on here and sharing your different experiences.

For sure being outside, and working in nature, is good for our minds as well as our bodies. There is an amazing charity, Thrive, charity using gardening and horticulture to change the lives of disabled people which is dedicated to just that premise. They have a base in Battersea Park, and care for some areas of it. I took a tour they offered during the Chelsea Fringe, with their head of therapy, and learnt that what they offer helps all sorts of people - the depressed, the developmentally challenged, those who have suffered trauma, and many others. And they can tailor it for different needs - young people come and learn social skills, maybe work towards NVQs, a group of women who have escaped abusive situations enjoy coming to work in the Old English Garden (a lovely secluded walled space filled with perennials, mostly scented as the plantings were sponsored by the perfumier Jo Malone) one afternoon a week, etc etc.

I know that gardening in my own space has helped me through some tough, lonely times. I am someone who has struggled all my life to "fit in" socially, without ever quite understanding why. That is - until I read this article recently: Thousands of autistic girls and women 'going undiagnosed' due to gender bias

Now I suspect that this is my own case, that I am in fact mildly autistic. No - not suspect, frankly it feels more like a huge relief! All those years of guilt and anxiety about my social inadequacy, that somehow I had created that, when actually it was hardwired into my brain from the start. Obviously this is not a formal diagnosis, and I doubt I will bother asking the NHS for one (there's a very long waiting list, if you're an adult, and probably no treatment appropriate after that - just what may well be an unhelpful permanent note on your medical records). But it's my working hypothesis, and so now I will explore that, and for sure it does account for an awful lot that puzzles me from the past, and feels helpful too for moving forward.

And it might be something that others of you might like to explore too? I do suspect that higher-functioning autism was massively underdiagnosed in the past, probably for men as well as women. And quite honestly, I am beginning to think that being neuro-diverse (the politically correct term for it) is cause for celebration, rather than shame. Yes, we are different, but the world would be a poorer place without us, in many ways. We bring it our own special talents and strengths.

 

Nice posts by recent posters but just pointing out that this thread is more than three years old and the OP is no longer active on G C. Hope she’s ok.