 "Photo: Dave Kauffman")
As the last leaves fall from the trees and Bostonians are again left shivering, people are searching for new ways to battle the winter blues, and according to researchers, the cure could be as easy as stopping and smelling the roses.
Nancy Etcoff - a Harvard Medical School researcher and Massachusetts General Hospital psychologist - conducted a behavioral research study that showed people who have flowers in their homes "feel more compassionate toward others, have less worry and anxiety and feel less depressed," According to a recent American Society of Florists press release.
According to the October release, Etcoff's goal in conducting her study, The Home Ecology of Flowers, was to "determine flowers' impact on positive and negative moods, energy and feelings of competency, using a fine-grained analysis of emotions over the course of a day."
According to the study, Etcoff and her research team studied 54 people ranging in ages from 25 to 60 by tracking their locations, whom they were with and what they were doing when they reportedly experienced an emotion. The study also observed people's emotions when flowers were and were not present.
The study's participants rated their feelings during specific times of the day before and after they lived in an environment with flowers. At the end of the study, Etcoff said "flowers feed compassion," and the participants who lived with the fresh flowers exhibited an "increase in feelings of compassion and kindness for others," according to the press release.
Patricia Wilson, a psychology professor at La Salle University, conducted a series of three similar studies last year with Jeannette Haviland-Jones, director of the Human Emotions Lab at Rutgers University. Their study found that flowers elicit positive emotions in people and are "rewarding" to have around, Wilson said.
"The question [of emotional effects of flowers] was an interesting one that no one had investigated," Wilson said in an email. "The first study led to the second. Since then, the lab has expanded investigations of flowers and floral odors. What we found was that flowers have socio-emotional benefits and we propose that flowers elicit positive emotion in humans and thus are rewarding for us."
Wilson said the flowers also prompted other positive results.
" . . . The flower studies were remarkable for the kinds of unmeasured responses of recipients," Wilson said. "They sent notes thanking us for the flowers, photos of the flowers placed in their homes -- one person sent several photos so we could see how well they had held up -- and the deliverers were given hugs.
"This just doesn't happen in psychology studies," she added.
According to Wilson, two of the studies were distinguished by gender and the third study tested the effects of flowers on senior citizens.
According to Andrew Harper, medical director at the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center, the effects shown in the studies relate to common relaxation techniques that Harper and his colleagues use with patients -- including peaceful visualization.
Harper said that patients are trained to picture a "serene" place they find relaxing. Oftentimes, the places they picture are the beach or the fields.
"We've known for a long time that certain colors are more relaxing and others are more energizing," Harper said. "Flowers would be along that kind of spectrum. So that if anything you do to make your environment restful, peaceful and attractive can help."
Harper said many people associate flowers with nature and find them aesthetically pleasing, and thereby reduce stress -- "and most people feel better when they feel less stressed."
Dennis Minihane, owner of Minihane's Flower and Garden Shop in Brighton and 40-year flower enthusiast, said flowers have "immeasurable" value in peoples' lives.
"The soothing effect is so beautiful, so natural," Minihane said. "There's a spiritual message conveyed with just the delivery of one or two flowers."
Minihane said he learned to appreciate flowers as a young boy, saying that when his mother was angry with him he would "run to the park and pick a single violet for her."
"In terms of a woman complementing a man's masculinity, it's nice for a woman to give a man a flower sometimes," Minihane added.
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