Climate change isn’t just impacting polar bears and weather patterns. It’s creeping into therapists’ offices, restless nights, and an overwhelming sense of anxiety many people feel when looking towards the future. The link between climate patterns and mental health is undeniable and is exacerbated by excessive natural disasters and oppressive climate change news stories permeating the headlines.
Perhaps one of the more challenging components of climate change on mental health is its insidious impact. Some face trauma from natural disasters, floods, fires and hurricanes. Others bear a less acute but lingering concern about the world’s future in ten or twenty years. Both are completely normal reactions to an incredibly abnormal and scary situation.
How Much Is Too Much Information?
Climate change-related mental health concerns are driven by too much information. Social media posts about destruction, documentaries on melting ice caps, public service announcements about carbon footprints create a continued sense of unfavorable information. Yet the human condition wasn’t created to constantly digest information about happenings halfway across the world.
People feel as though climate change is too big of a problem. Even those who do their best to cut back on pollution still feel as though their efforts aren’t enough. The gap between good intentions and what’s needed to move the dial leaves many feeling helpless. Yet helplessness serves as a known precursor to anxiety and depression.
And here’s where it gets complicated: concern for the environment is a fantastic quality to possess; however, when people become so worried about the world around them that they cannot function it’s a problem. People avoid scheduling events for the future, feel guilty when enjoying life too much, or panic when considering procreating in an uncertain world.
Therapists in Denver who specialize in women’s anxiety and self-worth are particularly seeing how environmental concerns compound existing confidence issues. When women already struggle with self-doubt, adding climate guilt and helplessness can significantly impact their sense of personal agency and worth.
When Climate Change Impacts Something More Than Your Calendar
People most impacted by climate-related circumstances experience immediate challenges that impact their mental well-being, too. PTSD, anxiety, and depression are common where massive storms, flooding, fires occur – once the destruction is done. However, continued stress about clean up, insurance claims, and potential recurrence urges people’s mental health to continue to decline long after repairs are made.
This makes sense inside the disaster zones. However, people who are otherwise stabilized report rising levels of anxiety amidst hurricane season, wildfire season, unexpected rains, and excessive coverage about “normal” climate change beyond their control.
Heat waves, in particular, increase domestic violence, psychiatric emergency room visits and aggression. The higher the heat, the more aggressive people feel. Therefore, while discomfort is an unrealistic expectation in the name of climate change (since we shouldn’t be comfortable), it’s reflective of how our moods shift with temperature. And as temperatures continue to rise – in more ways than one – they affect everyone.
When Guilt Keeps People Stuck
Even guilt is a mental health issue surrounding climate change. Guilt that comes from driving to work, purchasing prepackaged food items or taking vacations boomerangs back to mental health concerns. Unfortunately, guilt perpetuates paralysis or perfectionism – but doesn’t support sustainable change.
But guilt doesn’t help anyone change for the better. Instead, it causes people to feel bad about feeling bad; try to do all that can be done for the environment; realize perfection isn’t possible; continue to feel bad for what’s been messed up. This cycle is compounded by social media where people compare their environmental failures compared to others’ environmental successes.
The world can support less consuming news consumption or constant comparison; however, it can’t quell realities out of people’s hands for giant negative news stories making people more stressed about life than general expectations would allow for.
Finding A Healthy Middle Ground Without Losing Sight
The goal is not to stop caring about climate concerns – this isn’t feasible or helpful – but rather to limit how much care can induce overwhelming anxiety that undermines mental health and world efforts.
Setting boundaries for consuming climate change-related information reduces how much negative health trends transform people’s minds about the situation. This isn’t to say to not pay attention; instead, limit when and how climate-related news is absorbed (and from what sources) so people don’t focus on it 24/7.
Taking action where possible – even minimal action – helps more than people realize. Studies show those who employ climate conscientious behavior have better mental health than those who only worry without acting upon that worry. The caveat? Only take suggestions that one can realistically accomplish so actions aren’t out of reach.
Community engagement provides caring relationships and environmental benefits. Making plans with others in need of sustainability efforts helps combat isolation that’s all too common among stressed persons with climate change concerns. Collective action provides subjugation against justified frictional thought patterns telling us it won’t make a difference.
Building Resilience For An Uncertain Future
Coping skills for climate anxiety work similarly to other anxieties. Working towards what can be controlled instead of global catastrophes empowers people who have felt hopeless due to such psychological waste.
Focusing on the household level or homegrown advocacy or charitable support helps realize big decisions don’t mean one needs to personally solve the matter themselves.
Furthermore, building present-minded awareness counters climate worries that derail people’s minds from ten years down the road into worst-case scenarios. While planning ahead is good for catastrophes that can be avoided (packing an emergency bag), spending time really worrying about what life will be like then creates distress without helping what’s going on today.
Professionals help those most impacted by how climate change concerns infiltrate daily life. Those with climate-change-based anxiety respond well to therapy approaches from other anxiety problems – with simultaneous benefits since they directly address what’s been creating anxiety responses since inception.
Climate change creates legitimate concern that deserves careful thought and implementation; however, allowing environmental fears to undermine psychological well-being doesn’t help anyone – or communities – or the world at large. Learning how to care while supporting one’s mental health fosters opportunities for long-term care.
