Mental health in a changing world: Impact of ecosensory intelligence

Pages: 608-610
Jaishree Jain (Department of Psychology, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan)

People are part of nature and vice versa. We inherit nature’s intelligence. It is physiologically and psychologically in us. This is a major concern of humanity that has unfortunately not been fully recognized till date. Purpose of the study is to arouse the level of consciousness of individuals about the importance of ecosensory intelligence on our general mental health. Indigenous people around the world have stressed the sacredness of humanity’s connection with nature, not only for spiritual well-being but also for physical, social and psychological well-being. Going for a walk or sitting in a park or going camping help people defocus their attention from the stress. It is the natural rhythm in nature that is quite opposite of the kind of drive and energy that push people towards increased stress. Thus, by refocusing on these natural rhythm people can slow down and move at the same speed as everything around them. The sight of the sea is the quickest and effective way to reduce high stress level. Popular stress busters include a walk in the park, the smell of cut grass, sound of birds singing, swimming with dolphins help in prevention of depression. The purpose of present research work is to study the ecosensory intelligence as a correlate of general mental health. The study was sampled 200 male and female participants of the age range of 20 to 50 years randomly from both rural and urban settings of Rajasthan irrespective of educational and socio-economic status. The tools administered were ecosensory intelligence test by Cohen (2001) and Mental health scale by Bhatt and Gidda. ‘t’ test was used to find the significant difference in ecosensory intelligence and general mental health. However there is a significant difference in mean scores on ecosensory intelligence and general mental health.