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ECOPSYCHOLOGY AND THE USES OF WILDERNESS Fran Segal |
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Fran Segal is a writer, artist, and clinical (eco)psychologist in private practice in Berkeley, California. Major influences on her work include Jungian and transpersonal psychology, Taoist, Buddhist, and Native American philosophies, hiking, climbing, and skiing in the back country of the high Sierra. She has been leading personal growth oriented wilderness trips since 1985 when she trained with Outdoor Leadership Training Seminars in Colorado. Her doctoral dissertation was "The Experience of Communing with Nature in Wilderness." She has taught courses in wilderness experience and deep ecology at John F. Kennedy University in California. As an artist, she is currently designing and building slate murals, using the natural colors and textures of stone to enhance the spirit of natural place in urban garden settings. This essay if excerpted from the new anthology The Whole Mind: The Definitive Guide to Complementary Approaches to Healing the Mind, Mood and Emotions, edited for New World Library by Lynette Bassman. |
ECOPSYCHOLOGY PRACTICE HAS most
often taken the form of wilderness trips and nature outings for the purpose of psychological
and physical well-being. This began in the 1940's with the formation of Outward Bound.
While originally conceived of as a survival skills course for young sailors, the Outward Bound
programs now aim for "personal development, interpersonal effectiveness, and [the
development of] philosophy and values" (Stephen Bacon, "The Conscious Use of
Metaphor in Outward Bound,"
Denver, Colorado Outward Bound School, 1983). These
programs and many others that have been developed in recent years are based on physical
challenge in the wilderness setting as a means for expanding the boundaries of experience
and ultimately, expanding participants' self esteem. These programs are now available not
only for the general population, but also for various clinical populations such as abused
women, delinquent youths, and other specific groups such as business management
teams.
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There is a second orientation toward
use of wilderness experience that is outwardly more spiritual and involves the use of ritual.
Probably the most popular of this type of format is the vision quest,
though other ritual forms
involving meditation and art and group process exist as well. The term "vision
quest" was taken from Native American tradition though this type of activity has been a
part of many earth-based cultures around the world. The use of the vision quest by
non-Native Americans has evoked a great amount of controversy so this phrase is being used
less and less by wilderness trip leaders. This general form involves preparing to go to the
wilderness in search of meaning with the help and support of a group of peers, spending time
alone and fasting in the wilderness to seek wisdom or a "vision", and returning to
share with the group and one's society. The two orientations to wilderness experience, physical challenge and psycho-spiritual ritual, can be seen as two poles on the body mind continuum in relationship to nature. What becomes clear in their practice is that both are necessary in order to relate to nature as a whole person. Physical challenge helps us go beyond our usual limitations so that we can have a broader range of experiences, and ritual gives meaning to the experience. When physical challenge is used alone, it easily can become a task of "conquering" nature rather than being in balanced relationship with it. When ritual is not grounded in exploring physical boundaries, it can become empty theatrics. The wilderness journey or pilgrimage has been presented here as the primary way that the principles of ecopsychology have come into practice. Many other orientations are possible and are developing as the field grows and expands. For example, Joanna Macy and John Seed have developed an ecopsychological form which they call a "Council of All Beings". The Council helps participants identify with the natural world by asking each person present to represent one non-human life form at the Council, and to advocate for it. As a part of the process, which usually lasts one or two days and includes some outdoor activities, participants are also aided in finding their individual power to act for change. |
An ecopsychological perspective also can be brought into the psychotherapy session.
While this may not always be the method of choice for the use of ecopsychological concepts,
it can often be an important means of introducing clients to an aspect of their lives which
may be undervalued or overlooked. How this will happen will vary depending on the
theoretical orientation of the therapist. For example, a psychodynamically oriented therapist may explore the client's childhood experiences with nature, as they relate to current life issues. A behaviorally oriented therapist might begin to incorporate exercises in nature that a client could do on her or his own, as part of a therapeutic treatment plan. The humanistic or expressive arts therapist has the opportunity to bring an ecopsychological orientation to the healing that takes place through creative expression; and the transpersonal therapist can bring a new dimension of meaning to dreams and myths which so powerfully incorporate universal images of nature. All of these methods are currently being explored. When we begin to see wilderness as a life partner who mirrors our own depth and richness, supports our growth, and at the transpersonal level is a part of us, then we begin to see how the earth is involved in an ongoing organic process of its own, having inherent value in and of itself. Working with this stage of awareness is now an area of much focus as the theory and practice of ecopsychology continue to develop. |
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WHAT THE RESEARCH SHOWS In a review of the research on ecopsychology, Peter Gibson described studies of the therapeutic use of wilderness experience with emotionally disturbed children and adolescents, delinquent adolescents, and adult psychiatric patients. He stated that "while many of the empirical studies are of questionable validity due to methodological shortcomings, 
it is clear that wilderness programs
can and do result in positive changes in the self-concepts, personalities, individual behaviors
and social functioning of the program participants". (Peter Gibson, Peter,
"Therapeutic Aspects of Wilderness Programs: A Comprehensive Literature
Review", Therapeutic Recreation Journal, Arlington, VA, National Therapeutic
Recreation Society, 2nd quarter, 1979) In 1987 Willis and Drebing completed a comprehensive research project on "Wilderness Stress Camping as an Adjunctive Therapeutic Modality." In this study they looked at the "virtual explosion" in the number of mental health programs making use of what they call "wilderness stress camping" as a treatment modality. 
In their study they found
that working through the anxiety and fears brought about by these programs served to build
self-esteem, enhance self-concept, develop trust, and provide other psychological and
sociological benefits. In addition they also felt that the programs were beneficial in providing
development of leadership skills, awareness of self in community, and spiritual or mystical
experience. Under the category of wilderness stress camping they included a wide range of activities such as rock climbing, group problem solving, and solitary outings lasting several days. While the authors found that wilderness programs can benefit "just about anyone", they state that they are not advised for "any person who is acutely psychotic, on heavy medications such that balance and other basic functions are severely impaired, highly disorganized, a medical risk as with the possibility of severe seizures, organically impaired as with Alzheimer's Disease, undergoing a course of ECT, patients with very poor impulse control who are risks for suicide or homicide, and patients who would otherwise be disqualified due to age or disability" (Charles Drebing and Scott Cabot Willis, "Wilderness Stress Camping as an Adjunctive Therapeutic Modality," Long Beach, CA, Western Psychology Association., 67th Annual Convention, 1987). |
In my own transpersonally oriented
study of people who felt they had meaningful experiences of "communing with nature
in wilderness", four major stages of the process could be identified. The stages are:
The specific mirroring occurrences
serve as teachers fostering greater self awareness, and at the same time fostering the
expansion of self identity into the transpersonal realm. There is a sense of being an integral
part of the environment, of being a part of something greater than one's physically separate
self, because of the undeniable sensation of everything working together. As human beings,
each one of us has a vast internal depth and richness. Wilderness can match this depth and
richness and in this sense, be a partner in our personal growth.
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THE FOUR STAGES IN PRACTICE The following are excerpts from an interview with a woman about her vision quest experience. I was on this real rocky knifelike ridge and it dropped off very sheerly in both directions. I was getting more scattered, looking at this as a dangerous place, it would be easy to fall off . . . All that was running through my head. Then to look down and see these crystals was a way of getting back literally in contact with the earth again . . . I could relax and look at these rocks, and the more I looked at them the more fascinated I got with them. They were like clear bubbles of quartz that came out of this real dark, denser kind of lava. So the rock itself was going through this major change . . . and was frozen in that moment of transformation from very dark and dense to much lighter and clearer . . . My fears had been alienating me from my environment. [I was] in this tense, constricted kind of state like 'oh my God, what am I doing up here?'; and the rocks were just so beautiful and striking that they pulled me out of [this condition]. There was a tremendous shift in my attention and my fears were dispelled I know, by the beauty of the rocks . . . A little bit later I got shaky and looked down and there were the crystals again, so a similar thing happened to me twice on that ridge. [The rocks] became real symbolic for me in terms of expressing for me what I had learned on that trip, going into the dark places within and bringing them to light. So I attached lots of meaning to the whole trip . . . there was a real kind of heart connection for me . . . a sense of loving and being loved, that kind of a flow . . . its like its trustworthy, I'm trustworthy. The two really go together. That kind of trusting experience allows for a lot of creativity . . . being able to step out and look at things and not be real afraid . . . To me being creative is also being able to take risks. |
In this scene, the primary sensory
opening was visual, and as in many wilderness experiences, the enhanced perception involves
a sense of beauty. This quality cannot be overestimated in its power to heal by drawing
consciousness into the body. Some ecopsychologists believe that the negative sensory
stimulation that surrounds modern urban dwellers, such as traffic sirens, dirty air and even
certain "ugly" consumer products are responsible for the dulling or closing down
of the senses. Conversely, in a healthy natural environment the beauty and harmony of what
is perceived encourages the senses to open more and more. The second stage, or emotional catharsis in the above example takes place around fear, risk taking, and being able to trust. In this case, as the experience progressed, the subject began to see her fear as an "internal judge or critical parent that was running rampant . . . my protective little constricted ego". This is not to say that her situation may not have been truly dangerous, but that in her particular case, she was getting in touch with a more expanded view of herself which felt capable of the attempt she was making, and wanted to complete it. The beauty of the rocks allowed her to keep her senses open and thus stay in touch with this part of herself. The third stage or the transpersonal aspect is described in this account through the description of a "heart connection". Other people have used words such as "oneness", "belonging", etc., when they had similar experiences. It was also generally described as a point of relaxation and sometimes a sense of being "home". 
The fourth stage, of wanting
creatively to reciprocate or give back to nature, is one which may occur immediately, or not
until much later when one has left the wilderness. This woman described this as a very
subtle process for her, first manifesting in a greater ability for risk-taking "in order to
look at the world" around her, and then as an enhanced feeling of respect and honor
for the other life around her. This latter was particularly inspired by an episode which
occurred after seeing the rocks. She states:
I remember being on this one ridge and seeing a juniper tree; and my mother just loves juniper trees. This tree was just beautiful the way it was sculpted by the wind; and it just reminded me very much of my mother and other women from that side of the family, women I would consider really exceptional. They've also endured some severe elements too and so just like the tree has a really unique shape, a unique beauty, not the picture perfect kind of postcard tree or something like a pine or fir with a geometric triangular shape. It was weird and contorted and weathered in some ways and not everybody would find it very beautiful, but I found it very beautiful. That was a real, real special moment to see that again. A strong feeling of reverence and respect, honoring this living thing came up for me. |
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Trees and animals that appear to
mirror human life are recurring themes in wilderness accounts. Another woman whose entire
wilderness experience was centered around a particular tree commented that "it looked
real wise, and I thought of all the storms it must have weathered that had shaped it the way
it was. I thought of some of the storms in my own life and how they had shaped me".
The essence of ecopsychology as a holistic clinical practice lies in acknowledging the importance of meaningful personal relationship with the natural world, both for the healthy functioning of the human psyche and for physical life support. Recognizing that this psychological relationship is severely damaged for much of modern humanity, ecopsychologists have developed theories and practices to help restore this bond and the resulting sense of belonging to and being a part of the world. 
Ecopsychology is developing in
response to a growing recognition that we are in the middle of an ecological and a
psychological crisis, and that these two crises are deeply interrelated. Many ecopsychologists
believe that the only way to solve these crises is by bringing individuals and their cultures
back into meaningful relationship with the ecological systems within which they exist. This is
most often accomplished through the use of wilderness trips, the use of ritual in natural
settings, and the integration of principles of ecopsychology into psychotherapy.
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FINDING A PRACTITIONER AND OTHER RESOURCES There are no uniform training standards for ecopsychologists, nor are there licensing or certification procedures. Practitioners of ecopsychology come from varying backgrounds 
and
use a variety of clinical practices. The following organizations can direct you to practitioners
with specific kinds of training. Ask for details of the training of the recommended
practitioners.
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© 1997 The Ecopsychology Institute |