Main description:

Ecotherapy: A Field Guide presents an extensive review of the field of ecotherapy that unearths a number of ambiguities in the way this therapy is understood and described. The review explores six themes derived from a critical analysis of the findings: human and nature; therapy and therapeutic; wilderness and wild; physical and meta-physical; culture and indigeneity; and the skin-bound self and the ecological Self. Throughout their exploration, the authors privilege traditions which predate the modern interest in this subject. They propose a new metatheory for ecotherapy practice that aims to bring some cohesion to the field, honour its heritage, and support its future development. Ultimately, the guide argues that great care should be taken in how ecotherapy is practiced and described, as many of the terms currently being used are culturally inappropriate and therapeutically counterproductive.