Sometimes it rains in Northern California, where I practice psychiatry for adults with ADHD. The rain helps the grass and trees grow, a lovely metaphor for the therapeutic process of receiving comprehensive ADHD treatment and growing slowly into a new, relatively unknown, more mature self. But it’s also the simple reality of my office. It is outside, surrounded by trees, with chairs nestled in nature.
Yes, I could be seeing patients inside a clinical office to discuss suppressing or ignoring old behaviors while allowing a deeper self to arise. Or I could just remind them to bring an umbrella to our session today as we delve into these issues.
Three months into the COVID-19 pandemic, I moved across the country with my three young children to Palo Alto, California, for the University and College Mental Health Fellowship in psychiatry at Stanford University. But instead of joining a vibrant academic community, I worked from my apartment. Alone. A few months later, forest fires made the air quality so bad that we couldn’t even go outside.
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As the pandemic began to lift, we wore masks when we treated patients in person. But in doing this emotional work, revisiting the difficult moments of a patient’s childhood, it is so important to see kindness on a psychiatrist’s face. So I made a decision: Whenever possible, I met with patients outside in nature, where masks weren’t required.
Benefits of Nature Therapy
After the pandemic ended, even as we sat in coats under umbrellas during the rainy season, I repeatedly asked my patients, “Do you want to do this in an office?” The answer was always the same: “Absolutely not.”
When patients are diving deeply into old pain, desperately hoping for connection while also fearing it, I can simply say: “What do you see, right now? What do you hear?” They look around at the grass and the trees, hear the birds, feel the sun on their skin, or hear the rain drumming on their umbrella. They discover that their fear is about the past, not the present. Try as they might, they can’t force their fear away any more than they can stop the rain. But they can notice it. They can choose to ignore the narrative it generates in their inner monologue. They can breathe and let the tears fall so that something new can grow.
The rainy season of change can be hard. But it doesn’t last forever. Eventually, spring comes. And the grass grows. To allow growth to change us for the better, we need to trust this deeply in our bodies. For my patients, I’ve found there is great power in learning from the change of the seasons. So we do the work. Outside. And sometimes it rains.
[Read: Go Take a Hike! (No, Really, It Helps.)]
Nature Therapy for ADHD: Next Steps
- Free Download: Everything You Need to Know About Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)?
- Read: How Green Time Promotes Better Focus
- Read: Never Underestimate the Healing Power of Mother Nature
Aaron Winkler, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist in California. He founded and directed the Adult ADHD Clinic at Stanford University before deciding to pursue private practice.
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