The Well-Gardened Mind - by Sue Stuart-Smith

Book Synopsis

A distinguished psychiatrist and avid gardener presents "a truly uplifting book on the power of gardening--and how it can change people's lives" (Stylist, UK).The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the "real" life that lies outside. When we get our hands in the earth we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Gardening is one of the quintessential nurturing activities and yet we understand so little about it. The Well-Gardened Mind provides a new perspective on the power of gardening to change people's lives. Here, Sue Stuart-Smith investigates the many ways in which mind and garden can interact and explores how the process of tending a plot can be a way of sustaining an innermost self. Stuart-Smith's own love of gardening developed as she studied to become a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. From her grandfather's return from World War I to Freud's obsession with flowers to case histories with her own patients to progressive gardening programs in such places as Rikers Island prison in New York City, Stuart-Smith weaves thoughtful yet powerful examples to argue that gardening is much more important to our cognition than we think. Recent research is showing how green nature has direct antidepressant effects on humans. "The most original gardening book ever [that] combines observation, horticulture, literature and history" (Sunday Times, UK), The Well-Gardened Mind is a book for gardeners and non-gardeners alike, and the perfect solace for people seeking healthier mental lives.

Review Quotes

"A psychiatrist and gardening devotee explores the mental health benefits that come with tending a plot. Something we can all use right now." -People "Sue Stuart-Smith seeks to go beyond the truism that getting out in the garden is good for you." -The New Yorker "How reassuring . . . to read Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, extolling the impact of nature and gardens on mental health and spiritual recovery." -Wall Street Journal "Examines how being disconnected from nature has negatively affected our mental health and how gardening can help to reconnect to nature . . . passionate and thoughtful." -Medium "A beautifully articulated argument for the benefits of gardens and gardening-and nature in general-on physical and mental health." -AARP

About the Author

Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, took her degree in English literature at Cambridge before qualifying as a doctor. She worked in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. She currently teaches at The Tavistock Clinic in London and is consultant to the DocHealth service. She is married to Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer, and, over thirty years together, they have created the wonderful Barn Garden in Hertfordshire.