Rock Climbing is the New Frontier of Therapy
Only two years ago, the gravity-defying sport of climbing made its Olympic debut. Featuring iron-hardened athletes and impossible acrobatics, climbing might seem far from a therapeutic experience. However, some scientists from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) see things differently. In a study recently published in the British Journal of Psychology, researchers are developing a new form of therapy for depression: bouldering psychotherapy (BPT) [1].
Bouldering is an easy-to-start, enjoyable, and social form of climbing that has recently exploded in popularity. Bouldering is performed on 10-15 ft tall walls with a protective mat, emphasizing problem-solving just as much as physical ability.
Previous research has shown that rock climbing has several mental health benefits relevant to depression. In an Outside Magazine article, Katharina Luttenberger, one of the lead researchers on the project from FAU explains “Climbing can bring about mindfulness, the in-the-moment focus that [participants] experienced, which is key to treating depression” [2]. Mindfulness is the ability to focus on the present without judgment, a valuable skill for having a balanced mental state.
With BPT, researchers aim to combine traditional talk therapy techniques such as mindfulness exercises with bouldering. In their 2020 study, Luttenberger and her colleagues compared the effectiveness of BPT with talk therapy. They divided 233 participants into three groups: bouldering, traditional talk therapy, and home exercise. In the bouldering group, participants began each session with a mindfulness exercise and then climbed. Climbers finished the session by discussing their experiences and performing body relaxation exercises.
10 weeks later, the data showed that BPT was more effective than physical exercise alone and just as effective as traditional talk therapy in lowering depression. Moreover, Luttenberger points out in a UA article that "Patients enjoyed the bouldering sessions and told us that they benefited greatly" [3]. And the data shows it – more participants enjoyed their therapy in the climbing group than in the traditional therapy group (84.7% vs 47.9% respectively). Furthermore, these improvements persisted for at least 12 months following the study and no injuries were reported during the 1300+ hours climbed by participants.
However, mindfulness may not be the only reason climbing has a positive impact on depression. Other studies have found additional mental benefits associated with climbing.
One such benefit is self-efficacy, the belief in one’s ability to perform the necessary actions to complete a task. Self-efficacy is well-researched in the treatment of depression. Lisa Thaller and her colleagues from the University of Innsbruck compared self-efficacy in climbing versus Nordic walking interventions on people with various mental health disorders. Nordic walking, or hiking with poles, is commonly recommended to patients and previous research has demonstrated its positive effects on mental state and mood.
Thaller found that climbing had a greater impact on self-efficacy than Nordic walking, demonstrating that there may be something different about climbing compared to other sports driving its impact on mental states.
In a separate study, Patrick Boudreau and his colleagues from the University of Otago investigated climbing through a “flow” and “clutch” framework [4]. “Flow” is defined as complete task immersion while “clutch” is the phenomenon of increased performance under pressure.
Boudreau found that climbers experienced both flow and clutch states while bouldering. These mental states are also similar to mindfulness because they emphasize the present moment. For example, one participant referenced feeling happy to just be there– enjoying the feeling of climbing. These results are interesting because they demonstrate that the mental benefits appear intrinsic to climbing itself and are not limited to therapeutic intervention.
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” - Sir Edmund Hillary
About the Author: Ethan Pang
Ethan is a class of 2025 Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major.
Author's Note
I wrote this article for my UWP102B class with instructor Amy Goodman-Bide. I decided to write about this study because it represents the cutting edge of therapeutic climbing research. I am a physiology major and climber as well, so it fits right in with my interests. I feel like this is a topic that many other people may find interesting as well! Readers should learn about this study and therapeutic climbing as a whole. Additionally, I hope that readers can appreciate the uniqueness of climbing and the potential benefits of expanding how we think about therapy.
References
- Luttenberger, K., Karg‐Hefner, N., Berking, M., Kind, L., Weiss, M., Kornhuber, J., & Dorscht, L. (2021). Bouldering psychotherapy is not inferior to cognitive behavioural therapy in the group treatment of depression: A randomized controlled trial. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12347.
- Bouldering Envisioned as New Treatment for Depression. (2017, May 20). University of Arizona News. https://news.arizona.edu/story/bouldering-envisioned-new-treatment-depression.
- Thaller, L., Frühauf, A., Heimbeck, A., Voderholzer, U., & Kopp, M. (2022). A comparison of acute effects of climbing therapy with Nordic walking for inpatient adults with mental health disorder: A clinical pilot trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116767.
- Boudreau, P., Houge Mackenzie, S., & Hodge, K. (2022). Optimal psychological states in advanced climbers: Antecedents, characteristics, and consequences of flow and clutch states. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102155.