It should come as no surprise that there are already repercussions on mental health due to how quickly the environment is changing and the ongoing, noticeable effects of it.
According to some, one of the biggest risks to world health in the twenty-first century is climate change, to which psychology is typically responding.
The main focus of the psychology of climate anxiety is on the anxiety's place in climate psychology. The emotions, as well as the social and mental processes that have led to the ecological and climate catastrophe and our reactions and processes of adaptation, are the focus of climate psychology.
Psychological Evidence Of Climate Anxiety
Climate anxiety (sometimes called eco-anxiety) is defined as “the chronic fear of environmental doom that comes from observing the seemingly irreversible impact of climate change and the associated concern for one’s future and that of next generations” by the American Psychology Association (APA).
The American Psychological Association (APA) states that maladaptive coping mechanisms including intimate partner violence and substance abuse, as well as clinical disorders like melancholy, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide, can all be indicators of psychological indications of climate anxiety.
In his journal article "The Impact of Climate Change on Mental Health:a Systematic Descriptive Review," Cianco P. discovered a variety of intricate forms of climate anxiety and trauma, including consequences that span generations, particularly in cases where environmental devastation results in the loss of a way of life or culture.
Climate Anxiety and Mental Health/Behaviour
Climate change and mental health are not as clearly linked. But there's a lot of data to support it. Extreme weather events are more frequent and severe due to climate change. Decades of research has shown the effects of isolated events, like natural disasters, on mental health, with higher levels of PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and even domestic violence after storms.
Because most of us act as if climate change doesn't exist most of the time, individuals who are aware of and feel the existential threat of it experience increased levels of anxiety related to it.
It is possible to hypothesize that anxiety about climate change could either motivate people to engage in behavioural ways with the problem of climate change or act as a form of eco-paralysis, as defined by Albrecht (2011), which prevents people from acting effectively.
Responding To Climate Anxiety
The Climate Psychology Alliance proposes that rather than focusing on curing climate anxiety, psychologists and psychotherapists should "support individuals and communities to build strong containers that allow the expression and exploration of their emotions without collapsing under it or turning away," in light of the necessity of mobilising effectively in response to climate change.
Lawton G. claims that if climate anxiety is viewed as pathology, "the forces of denial will have won...what we are witnessing isn't a tsunami of mental illness, but a long-overdue outbreak of sanity" in his journal paper "If We Label Eco-Anxiety as an Illness, Climate Denialists Have Won."
Conclusion
Distinguishing between adaptive and pathological types of climate anxiety is crucial in the psychology of this condition.
And although it is a psychological issue, climate change should not be treated as a medical or individual issue.
— Vashti James
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