Introduction: Nature and green spaces play a vital role in spending leisure time and mental health. Nature therapy (ecotherapy) is a new method of psychological treatment that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. In this treatment, the capacity of nature is used to treat or reduce the symptoms of mental disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of nature therapy (ecotherapy) on reducing anxiety in patients suffering from chronic anxiety.
Methods: This is an experimental research, with a pre-test, post-test and a control group, which was conducted in March and April 2024 in the forest area of Navakouh, Sarpole Zahab, Kermanshah province. Novakouh forest is one of the forests of Zagros mountains and it is a very green area with pleasant climate. The statistical sample of the study included 20 patients suffering from chronic anxiety living in the western cities of Kermanshah province (Sarpole Zahab, Qasre Shirin and Islamabade Gharb). The participants were randomly divided into two experimental and 10 control groups, and for the experimental group, 10 Ecotherapy sessions were performed (for 5 weeks, 2 sessions per week, 4 hours per session) and no intervention was given for the control group.
Both groups were evaluated before the beginning and after the end of the intervention using the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS.21 and descriptive statistics methods as well as analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used (p<0.05).
Results: The results of statistical analysis showed that Ecotherapy has a significant effect in reducing the number and severity of chronic anxiety symptoms. At the end of the intervention and in the post-test phase, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of the number and severity of anxiety symptoms.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that Ecotherapy is effective in the treatment of chronic anxiety disorder and it is possible to use this treatment and the capacity of nature in this field.