How Climate Change Will Worsen the Mental Health Crisis

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Hurricane Ida left behind a path of devastation, and mental health experts are warning of the mental health toll. Unfortunately, this mental health component is not unique to Ida but will increasingly become a pervasive problem in light of worsening climate change. Several weeks ago, the code red UN report warned that we have a narrow window of time left to prevent climate change from spinning out of control. This reignited urgent calls for action, as reports like these usually do, but there is a less recognized dimension of climate change that could make these calls for action more effective, which is the connection between climate change and mental health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has already shown the mental health crisis that can result when people are forced to alter the behaviors and lifestyles they are accustomed to (Ferreira et al., 2020) But even that would pale in comparison to the mental health crisis that would result from ongoing, worsening climate change over the long term, given that the latter is a broader, more overarching problem that can include even more pandemics as part of its consequences. For this reason, we need to increase awareness of the mental health implications of climate change. While the difficulties future generations will face due to climate change is an abstract idea that our brains don’t process well, therefore preventing action, the prospect of even more of the mental health struggles we’ve already been experiencing as a result of COVID-19 may hit a little closer to home.

Direct and Indirect Links Between Climate Change and Mental Health

The links between climate change and mental health exist on multiple levels in ways both direct and indirect. Here are some of the direct ways that climate and weather affect our mental states. There is plenty of evidence linking extreme temperatures with detrimental effects on cognition and well-being. At the extreme, researchers have found that an increase of just one celsius (1.8°F) is correlated with a 0.7 percent increase in suicide rates (Burke et al., 2018).

One of the repercussions of climate change is an increasing number of extreme weather events such as droughts, heatwaves, and hydrological disasters. Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires often involve very intense sights, sounds, smells, and sensations that can be traumatic by their very nature. Such events can also cause heavy infrastructural damage and leave people with limited access to basic needs such as food, water, shelter, sanitation, and social support. Such experiences can lead to long-term mental health challenges. Even just rain can trigger PTSD among people who have experienced hurricanes, for example.

Climate change can also affect physical health in numerous ways. Drought can lead to dehydration, malnutrition, and poor sanitation. The smoke from wildfires linked to climate change causes acute respiratory problems. There can be an increase in infectious diseases, and it’s quite possible that we are already seeing a real-life example by way of the COVID-19 pandemic and its tremendous toll on public mental health (Ferreira, 2020).

There are also mental health effects caused indirectly as a result of people having to change their behavior and lifestyles due to climate change. During Cape Town’s water crisis, undoubtedly a consequence of climate change, I personally witnessed the effects on communities and individuals when one of the most important human needs, water, had to be rationed out. Droughts and their specific problems such as shortages in drinking water and economic hardship for local economies dependent on agriculture are associated with numerous mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, insomnia, and somatic symptoms.

On top of all this, the mere awareness that climate change is an incontrovertible fact and that it is getting worse can cause mental health symptoms on its own. Accordingly, 67 percent of Americans currently experience some degree of anxiety about the impact of climate change (American Psychiatric Association, 2020). In fact, mental health challenges associated with climate change are becoming so common that the field of psychology is seeing the emergence of new terms to describe them. Ecoanxiety or climate anxiety describes the growing sense of stress and anxiety in the face of the sheer magnitude of the problem, and solastalgia describes the sense of loss that people experience when the natural environment is no longer a source of solace but rather of distress.

Complex Solutions for a Complex Problem

Since climate change is itself a complex subject, and addressing it requires a multifaceted approach, it only follows that mental health challenges linked to climate change are also complex and equally necessitate a multifaceted approach.

At a foundational level, the spreading of awareness must continue to be part of any comprehensive solution. But while awareness is important, by itself it is inadequate at mobilizing widespread action. Part of the reason for this might be that the approaches that awareness campaigns use may not be equally effective for everyone. Political leanings, for example, can influence how people receive climate change-related messaging. More research into what kinds of messaging are most effective for different demographic groups is needed. One study suggests that messaging that focuses on the health impacts of climate change may significantly influence behavioral change. Understanding why this is so may help organizations craft more effective awareness campaigns.

At the policy level, clearly, it is past time for federal and state governments to bring all excuses to a full stop. While the IPCC report concludes it is still possible to mitigate the damage being done, we are out of time. If governments do not act now, we will have a national and global mental health crisis to add to the list of climate change-related crises, and these crises will further hurt the economy and societal stability, which in turn will further affect public mental health in a vicious cycle.

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Local governments and communities can also take action without waiting for action at the federal and state level. Not only can they do things to directly mitigate climate change, but they can also take action that specifically alleviates the toll that climate change takes on a community’s mental health. For example, organizations can devote resources to equip social workers with disaster mental health preparedness training so that they can provide critical mental health services in the aftermath of disasters and extreme weather events. Since climate change is not a one-time event, and the effects of it will likely continue for the foreseeable future, organizations can also provide mental health workers with disaster crisis counseling strategies that can help people adjust to long-term climate instability.

At the individual level, people who are experiencing climate anxiety should start by acknowledging their feelings and realizing that they are normal. Then, instead of letting the anxiety paralyze them, they can try to channel their distress into action, which is a reliable strategy for reducing anxiety. Fortunately, there are many examples of both public and private figures who are doing just that. By following their lead, and seeking out like-minded others, individuals can discover and be part of communities where they can receive social support, which is also an important factor of mental health and plays a protective role during times of uncertainty such as the one we are in.