Therapeutic Landscapes (01-19-10)

English, Wilson, and Keller-Olaman have investigated the role of place in the lives of women recovering from breast cancer.  Their work “suggests a strong interplay between emotions and place such that emotional geographies, which appear to be embedded within places of healing, play an important role in shaping and maintaining therapeutic landscapes.”  Each of the women interviewed in this study by English and her colleagues indicated that natural environments had been important for healing, and participants perceived nature as having “unique psychological healing properties that are not found in other places.”  In addition, “Throughout the interviews, there was also an emphasis on the healing properties of water.”  The researchers conclude that “the calming and inspiring characteristics of different aspects of nature seem to contribute to emotionally uplifting experiences” and that the women interviewed perceived that nature positively influences the recovery of physical health.

Jennifer English, Kathi Wilson, Sue Keller-Olaman.  2008.  “Health, Healing, and Recovery:  Therapeutic Landscapes and the Everyday Lives of Breast Cancer Survivors.” Social Science and Medicine, vol. 67, pp. 68-78.