Nature can get it out of your mind: The rumination reducing effects of contact with nature and the mediating role of awe and mood

The affective benefits of nature exposure

“…This distraction may provide affective benefits due to a shift in focus to positive, external elements of the environment and away from repetitive and negative self‐referential thought, known as rumination (Aldao & Nolen‐Hoeksema, 2010; Genet & Siemer, 2012; Joormann & Gotlib, 2010; Nolen‐Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008). In support of this, recent research has found that nature exposure may reduce a tendency to engage in this maladaptive form of attention allocation (Bratman, Daily, et al., 2015; Bratman, Hamilton, et al., 2015, Bratman et al., 2021; Lopes et al., 2020).…”

The Potential Role of Awe for Depression: Reassembling the Puzzle

“…Preliminary evidence has already shown a link between self-transcendence and depression (Haugan and Innstrand, 2012 ). Awe, alternatively conceived as an emotional component of the transcendent experience of the sublime (Bethelmy and Corraliza, 2019 ; Clewis et al, 2021 ), as a disposition able to foster self-transcendence meaning in life (i.e., spiritual self-transcendence (Lin et al, 2020 ), or as a mediator between nature and reduced rumination (Lopes et al, 2020 ), can always elevate us beyond the limit of our mundane affairs toward something bigger than our self and our concerns (Saroglou et al, 2008 ; Van Cappellen et al, 2013 ; Krause and Hayward, 2015 ). This also provides relief from the constant decay of mood characterizing MDD, and it emerged especially in the field of study related to awe-inspiring natural scenarios (e.g., Anderson et al, 2018 ).…”

“…For instance, customized self-selected awe-inspiring music (i.e., reflecting participants' preferences and personality) (Silvia et al, 2015 ) could be used in combination with visual techniques, such as images and VR, to enhance the personal relevance associated with an awe-inspiring intervention while always using standardized materials. A growing body of evidence concerns the potential of naturalistic scenarios able to release the self-transcendent nature of awe (Bethelmy and Corraliza, 2019 ) and nature itself, as one of awe's key elicitors (Ballew and Omoto, 2018 ; Graziosi and Yaden, 2019 ; Yaden et al, 2019 ), resulting in a powerful way to contrast depressive symptoms (e.g., Reklaitiene et al, 2014 ; Lopes et al, 2020 ) in both real and digital formats (Browning et al, 2020 ).…”

The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health

“…The experience of awe has been linked to enhanced well-being ( Anderson et al, 2018b ; Dong and Ni, 2019 ; Rudd et al, 2012 ), life satisfaction ( Rudd et al, 2012 ), prosociality ( Bai et al., 2017 ; Piff et al, 2015 ; Sturm et al, 2020 ), and reduced negative affect ( Lopes et al, 2020 ), and mental distress ( Sturm et al, 2020 ), in addition to being associated with nature relatedness ( Bethelmy and Corraliza, 2019 ) and pro-environmental behaviour ( Wang and Liu, 2019 ; Zhao et al, 2018 ), all enduring effects associated with psychedelic use ( Gandy, 2019 ). Psychedelics have been found to elicit feelings of awe ( Griffiths et al, 2006 ; Hendricks, 2018 ; Noorani et al, 2018 ; Riba et al, 2001 ; Richards et al, 1977 ; Watts et al, 2017 ), and an enhancement of awe may persist beyond the acute experience ( Noorani et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Reductions in negative affect are usually reported the day after a psychedelic session and tend to endure for weeks or months ( Barrett et al, 2020 ; Carhart-Harris et al, 2016a , 2018a ; Uthaug et al, 2018 , 2019 ; Watts et al, 2017 ). Both nature relatedness and nature contact appear to have similar and potentially synergistic effects on reducing negative affect ( Bratman et al, 2015a ; Capaldi et al, 2014 ; Hamann and Ivtzan, 2016 ; Lopes et al, 2020 ; Mayer et al, 2009 ; McMahan and Estes, 2015 ; McMahan et al, 2018 ; Neill et al, 2019 ; Nisbet et al, 2011 ; Passmore and Holder, 2017 ; Pritchard et al, 2020 ; van den Bosch and Sang, 2017 ; Zelenski and Nisbet, 2014 ).…”