REDEFINING AND CLASSIFYING THE INTERRELATIONSHIP OF THERAPIES USING PLANTS

This topic deal with the naming of therapies involving the use of plants and the relationships among those therapies, e.g., horticultural therapy, forest therapy, garden therapy, flower therapy, herb therapy, etc. “Plant-Assisted Therapy” (PLAT) is proposed as the inclusive name for all those therapies which are mediated or assisted by plants in the therapeutic process.
Such therapy includes two types of approach, involving complementary basic types of human activity, i.e., “Horticultural Therapy” (HT) and what can be called “Plant Perceptive Therapy” (PPET). The former aims to utilize the benefits of engaging in horticulture, which is based on “fostering” behavior.
The latter is based on “acquiring” behavior, which, in turn, includes “Plant Acceptive Therapy” (PACT) which is the basis of “hunting” actions of people, mostly utilizing the benefits of sensory participation with plants, and “Plant Art Therapy” (PART), which involves “making” or “manufacturing” actions, mostly utilizing the benefits of making artistic creations using plants.
On the basis of this naming and classification system, flower therapy, forest therapy, etc. are mostly seen as based on the “hunting” action, while art therapy using plants is based on the “making” action.
HT includes both the characteristics of “fostering” and “acquiring,” the balance of which enables us to live as human beings.

XXVII International Horticultural Congress – IHC2006: International Symposium on Horticultural Practices and Therapy for Human Well-Being

E. Matsuo

plant assisted therapy, horticultural therapy, plant perceptive therapy, plant acceptive therapy, plant art therapy, animal assisted therapy, garden therapy, flower therapy, plant therapy

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.775.18