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Nature Deficit Disorder #2 |
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In the 2006 issue of Maine Kids Count, a publication of the Maine Children’s Alliance, comes the following quote:
“The area of greatest concern, as illustrated by the data, is children’s mental health. Hospitalizations for children with mental health diagnoses rose by 41% between 2000 and 2004…common decency demands that these children receive the help they so desperately need to keep their suffering to a minimum” I hope to illustrate in this talk that part of the help we offer our children is in the form of reconnecting them with nature.
Some of the data to which the Maine Children’s Alliance refers is the startling fact that 35,296 children in Maine between the ages of 6 and 17 received treatment as hospital outpatients for mental health and substance abuse disorders in 2004! The #1 mental health diagnosis is Affective Psychosis which includes depression and bipolar disorder.
How has this happened to our children? These numbers are staggering and represent such an increase in mental health diagnoses that it’s hard to wrap your arms around it, isn’t it?
Why is it important for our children to have a connection with the natural world in order to increase the possibility of their thriving and growing to be productive and happy adults?
What do we get, what do we learn, as children from unstructured playing outdoors that insulates us more and diminishes the increasing possibility of mental health problems? |
