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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion pp 570–572Cite as

Ecotherapy

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As an umbrella term for nature-based methods of physical and psychological healing, ecotherapy represents a new form of psychotherapy that acknowledges the vital role of nature and addresses the human-nature relationship. It takes into account the latest scientific understandings of our universe and the deepest indigenous wisdom. This perspective addresses the critical fact that people are intimately connected with, embedded in, and inseparable from the rest of nature. Grasping this fact shifts our understanding of how to heal the human psyche and the currently dysfunctional, even lethal, human-nature relationship. What happens to nature for good or ill has an impact on people and vice versa, leading to the development of new methods of individual and community psychotherapeutic diagnosis and treatment (Buzzell and Chalquist 2009, p. 18).

Ecotherapy is sometimes described as applied or clinical ecopsychology. If we define ecopsychology as the study of the human-nature relationship (or...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Linda Buzzell

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  1. Linda Buzzell
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Correspondence to Linda Buzzell .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    David A. Leeming (Emeritus Professor) (Emeritus Professor)

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Buzzell, L. (2014). Ecotherapy. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_9155

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6086-2_9155

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6085-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6086-2

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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