Mental health difficulties are highly prevalent and costly, and mental health services are often overwhelmed. Brief and cost-effective interventions are needed to help improve mental well-being. We aimed to test the effect of a nature-based guided imagery (GI) and a nature-based meditation (NBM) on mental well-being and a range of clinically relevant measures over a 2-week period, including three time points. The community sample included 40 individuals (mean age = 38.63, standard deviation = 12.99; gender = 11 males, 28 females, and 1 responded as “nonbinary”). Participants were randomly assigned 1:1 to either the GI or the NBM. Participants were given one audio file to listen to (either GI or NBM), both of which were ∼20 minutes in duration. Similar to previous work, we found evidence for increases in well-being and nature connection immediately following the GI. The results suggest that both the GI and NBM are likely to be effective in improving mental well-being. There were statistically significant increases in well-being, self-compassion, and mindfulness, as well as decreases in rumination, negative affect, and depressive symptoms. There was also evidence for clinically meaningful improvements in depressive symptoms and well-being. This experimental study provides preliminary evidence to support the development of nature-based interventions to improve well-being. Further research is needed to test this in larger and clinical samples, either as an adjunct to therapy or as self-help for those with mild-to-moderate symptoms of depression.
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