Imagine you’re stuck indoors, the city outside a grey blur, and the stresses of daily life have left your mind feeling like a tangled mess.
Traditional wisdom suggests a walk in the park or a session of gardening to untangle your thoughts and boost your mood.
But what if green space is miles away, the weather is terrible, or you have mobility issues?
In an increasingly digitized and urbanized world, access to the healing power of nature is shrinking.
A new study has explored a promising solution: the digital therapeutic garden.
Researchers in Korea investigated how people are using these technology-enhanced environments, what they think of them, and if they actually make a difference to their mental health.
Key Points
- Digital gardens boost social life: People who used digital therapeutic gardens most often reported benefits in social interaction, more so than psychological or physical effects.
- Life satisfaction and vitality improve: Individuals who participated in digital therapeutic gardens reported significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and vitality compared to those who didn’t.
- Greater benefit for those at risk: The positive impact on vitality and life satisfaction was most pronounced for participants with elevated depression and anxiety scores (above the cutoff threshold).
- What stops people from trying? The biggest barrier to participation was the difficulty in using digital devices and technical challenges.
- Three essential elements for healing: For a digital garden to be effective, it should foster a sense of connection to nature/presence, encourage active participation, and promote mindfulness
Defining the Digital Green Space
A therapeutic garden is intentionally designed, often centered around plants, to facilitate healing interactions with nature.
A digital therapeutic garden takes this concept a step further, blending natural elements with digital technologies to maximize therapeutic effects and enhance accessibility.
The research identified four distinct types of digital therapeutic gardens:
- Media-based gardens use digital media like Virtual Reality (VR), large screens, or interactive displays to simulate a garden environment.
- Nature-based gardens integrate digital elements like light, video, and sound into a real-world physical garden to create a multi-sensory, immersive landscape.
- App-based gardens utilize mobile applications and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to let users interact with a garden system remotely, often aiding in plant care or providing social connections.
- Smart gardens are indoor spaces—like cube-shaped booths—with automated lighting and irrigation, where human facilitators often deliver guided interventions such as counseling or meditation.
The Blueprint for a Healing Experience
Beyond simply viewing pretty pictures, the researchers identified three core “therapeutic elements” that must be integrated into digital gardens to maximize their mental health benefits
- Connection and Presence: This is the feeling of being truly immersed in the environment and connected to nature, a vital factor for improving positive emotions, especially in VR experiences. Dynamic, colorful, and non-static environments are key to boosting this feeling.
- Active Participation: Engaging in goal-oriented activities, like virtual plant watering or fishing, is more effective for therapeutic benefit than simply observing passively.
- Mindfulness: Encouraging users to deliberately and attentively focus on the present experience in the garden maximizes restorative and stress-reducing effects.
More Than Just Relaxation: The Unexpected Benefit
The study found a moderate level of engagement, with 34% of participants having prior experience.
When asked about the benefits of their participation, a clear picture emerged:
- Social Interaction Benefits: 81% reported this—the highest perceived benefit. This goes against the common assumption that digital experiences isolate people; instead, these gardens foster a sense of social presence and connection.
- Psychological Benefits: 60%.
- Physical Benefits: 44%.
Overall, those who had visited a digital garden reported significantly higher life satisfaction and stronger social network connections than those who had not participated.
A Stronger Effect for the Stressed
The core finding revealed that people who participated in a digital therapeutic garden reported significantly higher life satisfaction and social networks than those without experience.
This indicates a positive relationship between use and overall well-being.
However, the analysis uncovered an even more significant nuance: digital gardens appear to be most beneficial for those at higher mental health risk.
Individuals with depression or anxiety scores above the clinical cutoff who had experience with digital gardens reported higher vitality and life satisfaction than comparable individuals without that experience.
In other words, the intervention’s restorative potential seems to be strongest for those who need it most, making it a powerful therapeutic tool.
Why It Matters
These findings paint a picture of digital therapeutic gardens as a valuable, modern tool for mental wellness.
They offer a solution to the growing public health issues of stress, anxiety, and social isolation.
For the general public:
If you live in a city, have limited mobility, or simply can’t get outside often, a digital garden can offer a highly accessible alternative to boost your mood, increase your feeling of connection to others, and provide a low-stakes activity to reduce stress.
If you struggle with persistent low mood or anxiety, engaging with these tools might offer a more pronounced positive effect on your vitality and general satisfaction with life.
For clinicians and policymakers:
The high satisfaction rate (83%) and the pronounced impact on social interaction suggest that these programs could be implemented in community settings or as a component of mental health services.
They are less constrained by location or weather than traditional gardens, making them efficient and cost-effective digital healthcare tools.
However, the number one barrier to participation – difficulty with digital devices – highlights the urgent need for better user-friendly designs, clear manuals, and technical support to ensure these benefits are truly accessible to everyone, especially older adults.
Reference
Treanor, M., Zbozinek, T. D., Rosenberg, B. M., Sewart, A., Sandman, C. F., Ruiz, J., & Craske, M. G. (2025). A randomized controlled trial comparing two processes of exposure therapy: Extinction learning and habituation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 93(10), 705–717. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000970
