This monographic issue, unlike many issues of the journal, focuses on health rather than on pathology, on protective factors rather than on risk factors and broadly outlines a historical excursus of the “positive” perspective in the medicine-psychology interface.
It is known that since the Second World War, the WHO has defined the concept of health in a very broad way, including a state of well-being both on a personal and social level and attributing to it an important protective role against disease.
This vision, which has materialized over time in Health Psychology, Positive Psychology and Positive Psychotherapy, is represented in the choice of articles, with a backward path starting from the current interest in the environment, whose “health ” is no longer considered inseparable from human health, highlighting in particular the salutary effects of natural environments.
In the first article “Man and nature: an ancient but still unresolved relationship” Stefania Borgo tries to frame the historical roots of the man-nature dichotomy – apparently incurable – which leads to face the current environmental crises in a reductionist key.
The second article “The effects of natural contexts on mental health and well-being: a brief summary of the literature” by Amelia De Felice, Giammaria Trimarco, Maria Ilaria Sbraga, Alfredo Marco Maria Trigona reviews the studies that investigate the characteristics of natural contexts of the major health effects and the possible mechanisms linked to the “reparative” function deriving from contact with nature.
In the following article, “Nature Therapy: Review of Evidence-Based Programs” by Anna Rita Colasanti, Mario Becciu, Giammaria Trimarco, Antonella Sinagoga, Roberta Porta, Laura Iardella, Gloria Bartolaccini, Valentina Costa and Annalisa Urbano results are presented of a systematic review, performed with the PRISMA method, on the health effects of interventions based on nature (NBT), which rely on elements present in natural environments as therapeutics.
Alessia Cella, former student of the CRP and specialized in Natural Based activities, in “The therapist’s backpack in nature“, after summarizing the main salutary characteristics of natural environments, illustrates some interventions in the field and the psychoeducational potential of the psychotherapists’ work in nature.
A theoretical article follows, “Promoting well-being to promote mental health” in which Federico Colombo illustrates the characteristics of Positive Psychology, which help to understand the role of personal resources in counteracting the development of deficits and mental disorders, and to improve both understanding the etiological mechanisms that the therapies of treatment-resistant disorders.
The historical archive is dedicated to the diffusion of Health Psychology in Europe, preceded by a memory of our colleague and friend Stan Maes, who has enormously contributed both to the birth of the European Society and to the scientific and professional development of this area.
The historical articles are taken from a book “Health Psychology in Cardiovascular Health and Disease“, edited by L. Sibilia and S. Borgo, the result of the first Erasmus course in this field, which well reflects the scientific interests of the early 90s ( see index). From this volume the Authors’ Foreward, the Introductionby Marie Johnston and some of the chapters have been selected: “Social cognitive models” by John Weinman, “Social support and coronary artery diseases” by Jesus Rodriguez Marin, “Principles of modification of eating habits” by Stefania Borgo and Lucio Sibilia and “Principles of community health promotion” by Stan Maes.
With the hope we have traced an exhaustive path of the emergence of positive factors in the field of psychotherapy, we wish you a good reading.
Stefania Borgo e Lucio Sibilia
