Integrating the natural healing process for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment in veterans through a healing garden.

Author

Taiwo A. Ajibade, West Virginia UniversityFollow

Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MLA

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Landscape Architecture

Committee Chair

Charles Yuill

Committee Member

Shan Jiang

Committee Member

Davis David

Committee Member

Chris Haddox

Abstract

In 2002, several ex-service personnel brought a court case against the Ministry of Defense for the inability to identify PTSD issues at an early stage and to provide support and effective treatment (Langston et al. 2007). Also in recent times, reports have suggested that US marine and army infantry units returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan have a higher level of expected proportions of mental disorders and that about 10% of personnel are returning home are with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (Smith et al., 2008). This discovery made it pertinent to look for natural ways to assist veterans while embarking on a recovery journey.

This study focuses on establishing and integrating the use of therapeutic gardens during the veteran's recovery. The project centers on establishing a healing garden as a natural platform of healing for veterans during the treatment of PTSD. In this context, a veteran is a military personnel who has been affected by his or her experiences, which led to post-traumatic stress disorder while in active service for their fatherland, hoping that this would also serve as a means for occupational therapy for diagnosed patients.

To put the research into perspective, some existing healing gardens are researched to provide more understanding of the benefits of the healing garden concept in aiding the treatment of PTSD by putting veterans in context. This is because of the saying that healing gardens are designed to meet specific medical needs. For example, while a healing garden can be designed to enable seniors to access outdoor activities and the natural environment outside, it can also be designed for children hospitals to help children blow off some steam, calm them down, engage them in garden activities, and converse with nature

Recommended Citation

Ajibade, Taiwo A., "Integrating the natural healing process for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment in veterans through a healing garden." (2020). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 7811.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/7811