Mission Statement of the Wilderness Psychiatry Society: The Interface of Mental Health and the Natural World

The Wilderness Psychiatry Society is committed to advancing recognition, research, and education of the intersection between mental health and wilderness environments. As an increasing number of people engage with natural spaces—through outdoor recreation, therapeutic retreats, survival settings, or the exploration of environments beyond Earth—the need for a cohesive, interdisciplinary framework to understand psychiatric dimensions of these experiences becomes an essential focus of medical expertise.

Contemporary psychiatry is at a critical juncture. The shifting of societal norms in a digital age, isolation following a global pandemic, displacement of communities due to climate crises, and the recognition of a rising mental health epidemic have pushed psychiatry to confront challenges far beyond the walls of traditional clinics. Simultaneously, public interest in nature-based activities has surged. The National Park Service reported record visitation in recent years (National Park Service, 2023), reflecting a broader societal turn toward the restorative potential of the natural world. Yet, this shift has occurred largely outside the scope of structured psychiatric care and evidence-based guidelines.

Wilderness Medicine, a field encompassing the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of medical emergencies in remote or austere environments, now stands poised for a parallel evolution in psychiatry. The Wilderness Medicine Society, the premiere educational and research group that has advanced the field since 1983, defines wilderness medicine as “medical care delivered in those areas where fixed or transient geographic challenges reduce the availability of or alter requirements for, medical or patient movement resources.” (2025) As documented in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, wilderness medicine encompasses a wide array of disciplines, including maritime medicine, high-altitude exposure, animal encounters, and expeditionary health. Wilderness psychiatry complements and expands this scope by addressing mental health challenges and opportunities unique to these and other environments. These include, but are not limited to, psychiatric responses to extreme isolation, trauma in disaster or conflict zones, the use of psychedelic use in naturalistic settings, and the integration of outdoor therapeutic interventions in clinical care.

This discipline spans of range of diverse fields, including:

  • Outdoor recreation and sports psychiatry, examining optimizing performance and mitigating risks associated with mountaineering, ultrarunning, rock climbing, BASE jumping, and other similar high-consequence activities. Reports of accessing flow states and lasting benefits to mood and self-fulfillment have been documented in these contexts; however, these activities are also associated with trauma, increased rates of substance use, or psychosis risk in vulnerable individuals (Brymer & Schweitzer, 2017).
  • Therapeutic and naturalistic use of psychedelics, which has reemerged as a central topic in psychiatry. While attention has focused on research trials in clinical settings, naturalistic studies and the incorporation of adjuncts of nature have shown that such attributes may enhance the therapeutic and spiritual impact of psychedelics (Gandy et al., 2020; Nour et al., 2016). Yet, these environments also present unique challenges regarding safety, integration, and regulation, warranting further study and the development of clinical guidelines (Johnson et al., 2008).
  • Wilderness therapy and substance recovery programs, utilizing extended backcountry experiences to facilitate emotional growth and recovery. While these programs remain divisive in some circles, and equitable access remains a significant barrier, meta-analyses have demonstrated positive effects on self-efficacy, interpersonal functioning, and substance use outcomes (Hoag et al., 2013). Additionally, they may operate outside direct psychiatric oversight, necessitating greater understanding of safety and appropriate implementation.
  • Disaster psychiatry and conflict zone mental health, encompassing care for displaced populations, refugees, and victims of environmental and geopolitical catastrophes. Addressing the psychiatric sequelae of trauma in these settings remains an ethical and scientific priority (Silove et al., 2017).
  • Space psychiatry, including psychological challenges faced by astronauts and, increasingly, commercial space tourists. Isolation, confinement, microgravity, and altered circadian rhythms pose significant psychiatric challenges (Kanas & Manzey, 2008). As space becomes more accessible, the psychological demands of those going into Earth’s orbit and beyond, including the existential and spiritual implications of space travel, will require be incorporation into psychiatric frameworks.
  • Climate psychiatry and ecopsychology, examining the psychological impact of climate change, including eco-anxiety, solastalgia, and climate grief. As extreme weather events, displacement, and biodiversity loss increase, so too does the mental health burden within these communities (Cunsolo & Ellis, 2018).

The Wilderness Psychiatry Society recognizes inherent tensions in these domains—between wilderness as both a sanctuary from, and site of, trauma; between structured therapy and spontaneous experience; between traditional Indigenous knowledge and Western medical frameworks. We seek to bridge these tensions with humility, scientific rigor, and cultural understanding.

Our mission is to:

  1. Foster interdisciplinary collaboration between psychiatrists, wilderness medicine providers, ecologists, anthropologists, therapists, Indigenous communities, and policymakers.
  2. Promote high-quality, peer-reviewed research in wilderness psychiatry and adjacent disciplines. This includes both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and encourages publication in journals such as Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, The American Journal of Psychiatry, Frontiers in Psychiatry, and Journal of Psychedelic Studies.
  3. Support education and training in wilderness psychiatry for medical students, residents, and professionals through field experiences, fellowships, and academic curricula.
  4. Advocate for evidence-based policies that ensure the ethical and sustainable use of natural settings in psychiatric care, with special attention to safety, informed consent, and the rights of vulnerable populations.
  5. Explore funding opportunities and institutional support for wilderness psychiatry research and services, recognizing its potential to address treatment-resistant mental illness, promote resilience within communities, and foster ecological stewardship.

By uniting these diverse threads, the Wilderness Psychiatry Society aims to expand the notion of psychiatric care beyond the confines of clinical settings and into the less explored spaces of our existence. Our mission is to promote mental wellbeing in relationship with the living Earth. In an age of disconnection, ecological crisis, and social fragmentation, wilderness psychiatry offers a healing path forward.

References

Brymer, E., & Schweitzer, R. D. (2017). Evoking the ineffable: The phenomenology of extreme sports. Psychology of Consciousness Theory Research and Practice, 4(1), 63–74. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000111

Cunsolo, A., & Ellis, N. R. (2018). Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss. Nature Climate Change, 8(4), 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2

Gandy, S., Forstmann, M., Carhart-Harris, R. L., Timmermann, C., Luke, D., & Watts, R. (2020). The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health. Health Psychology Open, 7(2), 2055102920978123. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055102920978123

Hoag, M. J., Massey, K. E., Roberts, S. D., & Logan, P. (2013). Efficacy of wilderness therapy for young adults: A first look. Residential Treatment for Children & Youth, 30(4), 294–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/0886571x.2013.852452

Johnson, M., Richards, W., & Griffiths, R. (2008). Human hallucinogen research: Guidelines for safety. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22(6), 603–620. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881108093587

Kanas, N., & Manzey, D. (2008). Space psychology and psychiatry (2nd ed.). Springer.

National Park Service. (2023). National Park Visitor Use Statistics. Retrieved from https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/

Nour, M. M., Evans, L., Nutt, D., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2016). Ego dissolution and psychedelics: Validation of the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 269. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00269

Silove, D., Ventevogel, P., & Rees, S. (2017). The contemporary refugee crisis: An overview of mental health challenges. World Psychiatry, 16(2), 130–139. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20438

Wilderness Medicial Society. (2025). FAWM FAQ. FAQ WMS. https://wms.org/WMS/TEstMemberSite/FAWM/FAWM-Tabs/07FAQ.aspx