Mental Health and Climate Change

There is a myriad of research that has been conducted to assess the impact climate change has had on mental health. Though emerging research has found a link between the climate crisis and poor mental health, research has been predominantly focused on higher income countries, despite the increased risk and vulnerability of lower income countries to climate change. This compounded with the high treatment gaps in lower income countries in regards to mental health leads to a double-burden of climate change related consequences (Charlson et al, 2022). Vulnerable populations in higher income countries, such as Black people, indigenous people, and people of color, also have a higher risk of adverse mental health impacts of the climate crisis (Brown, White, and Nicholas, 2021). This writeup will explore the adverse effects of the climate crisis on mental health, the link between the current Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, ways to avoid more destruction to society, as well as the effect of poor mental health on climate change.      The mental illnesses with the strongest links to climate change are post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. There are certain aspects that put people in the high-risk category for developing mental illnesses, such as gender, socioeconomic status, education, and pre-existing mental health symptomology. It is these people that are then more prone to mental health conditions after a natural disaster (Hrabok, Delorme, and Agyapong, 2020). Women, the elderly, and children are also in the high-risk category to develop mental health conditions (Marazziti et al, 2021). Other mental illnesses that arise due to the climate crisis include anxiety, substance use disorder, phobic and somatic impairment, suicide ideation, and suicide (Palinkas and Wong, 2020). After natural disasters, people also tend to suffer from survivor guilt, vicarious trauma, complicated grief, and recovery fatigue (Hayes et al, 2018). The mental and physical health issues people experience tend to be termed as the direct impact of the climate crisis. The indirect impact, on the other hand, entails economic loss, displacement and forced migration, alienation from a compromised environment, as well as collective violence and civil conflict (Palinkas and Wong, 2020).      Along with mental illnesses, there are climate-specific mental health concepts that have arisen in recent years, which include ecoanxiety and solastalgia. The term ecoanxiety encompasses the feelings of worry and uncertainty, as well as the loss of control surrounding environmental changes. Solastalgia, on the other hand, is a term used for the distress induced by the degradation of a person’s home environment. (Brown, White, and Nicholas, 2021). Ecoanxiety can manifest through lack of sleep, loss of appetite, and panic attacks, and is also characterized by the feeling of imminent danger but lacking the appropriate skills or direct agency to make a difference (Ingle and Mikulewicz, 2020). While ecoanxiety can be debilitating, it can also have a positive impact. Ecoanxiety was seen to inspire sustainable behavior among young people as they want to do their part to mitigate the effect of the climate crisis on youth mental health. Schools should aim to inculcate skills to manage climate anxiety in their students and also encourage sustainable behaviors (Aruta and Simon, 2022).      The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic can also be seen as a result of the climate crisis, as the incessant destruction of natural habitats increases the probability of spillovers of viruses from animals to humans. Along with having a detrimental effect on global mental health, which has been termed as a second or parallel pandemic, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the misconceptions and indifference society has regarding the link between people’s behavior and the deleterious effect this has on our planet, and consequently society itself (Marazziti et al, 2021). An example of this includes a somewhat unknown statistic that higher temperatures are associated with increased psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide rates. The adverse effects the climate crisis has on emotional wellbeing affects social interactions, thus higher temperatures also increase conflict and domestic violence (Clayton, 2020). Another frightening statistic in regards to climate change and mental health is that with every 1 degree Celsius of increase in the annual temperature, there is an estimated 6% increase in homicide rates (Brown, White, and Nicholas, 2021).      The World Health Organization has stated that there are 12.6 million preventable deaths annually that can be attributed to environmental circumstances exacerbated by climate change. It has also estimated that there will be an added 250,000 deaths per year between 2030 and 2050. Advocating for extensive research to be conducted, education and policy reforms to include disaster-resilient infrastructure, as well as human services for communities to alleviate the detriment to mental health could help mitigate the impact of climate change on society (Liu, Potter, and Zahner, 2020). Due to the close relation of the climate crisis and emotional wellbeing, the inductive study of emotions may also be advantageous to assess the environmental impact on the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations (Cooper et al, 2019). Another factor that could limit the long-term impacts of climate-related mental health issues could be training emergency departments in hospitals to screen the vulnerable populations for these problems. This would allow for effective interventions to be implemented and the psychological trauma as a result of climate change can also be avoided (Nicholas et al, 2020).      While the effect of the climate crisis on mental health has been explored, poor mental health can also have detrimental effects on the environment. Rising temperatures and sea levels along with episodic droughts are all part of the effects of climate change. These change natural landscapes of places and can even disrupt food and water supplies. The people most affected by climate change are people who work on lands, such people in the agriculture industry. Agriculture conditions drastically change and alter the original use of the land. This would put financial stress on these people, increasing the risk of violence and aggression, which could even result in the displacement of communities (Hayes et al, 2018). As mentioned before, these issues cause a spike in mental illnesses for communities directly affected by these effects of climate change. After a natural catastrophe, the population could encourage altruism, compassion, and promote a sense of personal growth. This could allow people to come together to rebuild their communities and salvage what’s left of the chaos and changing climate (Hayes et al, 2018). However, an increase in mental distress in the population could hinder this post-disaster growth and could also potentially exacerbate the effects of climate catastrophes.      In conclusion, climate change has seen to have a direct impact on the mental health of the population directly impacted by it, such as agricultural communities. It can increase the prevalence of mental illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety, and even suicide rates. Thus, taking into account the pernicious effects of climate change on global mental health, the damage to the environment, and the millions of preventable deaths per year due to environmental circumstances, steps must be taken by state and non-state agencies to stop any further destruction as a result of climate change.  

References:

Brown, M.J., White, B.P., and Nicholas, P.K., 2021. Mental Health Impact of Climate Change: Considerations for Nurse Practitioners. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1555415521003342.

Charlson, F. et al, 2022. Global priorities for climate change and mental health research. Environmental International, 158, 106984.

Clayton, S., 2020. The Insidious Impacts of Climate Change: Mood, Mental Health, and Psychosocial Well-Being. One earth, 2(6), pp. 530-531.

Cooper, S. et al, 2019. Environmental associated emotional distress and the dangers of climate change for pastoralist mental health. Global Environmental Change, 59, 101994.

Hayes, K., Blashki, G., Wiseman, J. et al, 2018. Climate change and mental health: risks, impacts and priority actions. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 12(28). Available at: https://ijmhs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13033-018-0210-6#Ack1.

Hrabok, M., Delorome, A., and Agyapong, V.I.O., 2020. Threats to Mental Health and Well-Being Associated with Climate Change. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 76, 102295.

Ingle, H.E. and Mikulewicz, M., 2020. Mental health and climate change: tackling invisible injustice. The Lancet Planetary Health, 4(4), pp. e128-e130.

Liu, J., Potter, T., and Zahner, S., 2020. Policy brief on climate change and mental health/well-being. Nursing Outlook, 68(4), pp. 517-522.

Palinkas, L.A. and Wong, M., 2020. Global climate change and mental health. Current Opinion in Psychology, 32, pp. 12-16.

Marazziti, D. et al, 2021. Climate change, environment pollution, Covid-19 pandemic and mental health. Science of the Total Environment, 773, 145182.

Nicholas, P.K. et al, 2020. Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change: Perspectives for the ED Clinician. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 46(5), pp. 590-599.