Eco-anxiety is on the rise, here's what psychologists recommend
A growing number of young people report that they are feeling stress or depression about climate change.
Fears of environmental collapse due to catastrophic floods, melting Arctic ice and the increasing frequency of climate disasters have caused eco-anxiety to surge globally.
In 2017 the American Psychological Association (APA) defined eco-anxiety as “a chronic fear of environmental doom” and psychologists across Canada are seeing a growing number of young people report that they are feeling stress or depression about climate change.
While it is not a clinical diagnosis, Dr. Joti Samra, a psychologist in Vancouver, says that psychologists are becoming more aware of eco-anxiety to help people better manage this chronic fear.
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"The APA has actually declared eco-anxiety as an area that psychologists have to attend more and more to because we are starting increasingly see how climate change is negatively impacting people's mental health in a very global way."
In February 2020 the APA passed a resolution that outlines their commitment to working with other scientific, professional, policy and communities around the world to battle mental health issues associated with the changing climate.
In an email to the Weather Network, the APA President Dr. Sandra L. Shullman says "The natural disasters that we are experiencing are associated with a number of mental health problems, including anxiety and depression. As experts in human behaviour, psychologists must be at the forefront of devising strategies to change the action - by individuals, corporations and governments - that lead to climate change."
Dr. Samra tells us that eco-anxiety is a very new field for psychologists, but is one that she feels is going to become increasingly prevalent.
"When I first started to practice 20 years ago there was no such label. Now to start to have words that are starting to describe a particular emotional experience that is very tied to specific stressors is new and unique and it certainly is something that I see expanding over time as globally our climate starts to change, it weighs on many of us."
Weighing on us is right. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), psychological trauma from a natural disaster is forty times greater than trauma from a physical injury.
Fardous Hosseiny, the former Interim National CEO of CMHA, adds that the climate emergency isn't just a question of how we will manage wildfires, soaring temperatures or rising oceans, but a question of what we will do about rising despair and mental health impacts of climate trauma.
Dr. Samra tells us those impacts can range anywhere from severe depression to anxiety.
"A pervasive piece of eco-anxiety is hopelessness and helplessness. It is this feeling of being out of control, so not having the ability to influence or change something that feels very massive and the outcomes are negative. We know as human beings when we are in any situation that we feel like we cannot control our hands feel very tied, and that leads often to this very generalized anxiety and people often get paralyzed."
She adds that people who suffer from eco-anxiety usually go into a fight or flight mentality. Those that choose flight become immobilized, which can lead to greater depression. Those that choose to fight on the other hand can start to really make a difference. She believes it is standing up to eco-anxiety that has helped lead to climate strikes and rallies across the world and says that taking back control is the best way to treat the issue.
"Try and find some way in your life where you can implement change and take action. When we feel we are making those changes there is a calming effect, and it's more than just feelings, it's the idea of how will things change? Things will change if we take action. So do what you can to take that anxiety and mobilize it into some behavioural change."
The Canadian Mental Health Association's website has some suggestions on how to manage eco-anxiety:
Let climate change guide the decisions you make- what you eat, how you travel, what you buy. Being in control of your own environmental footprint can counter powerlessness.
Talk about climate change in your own circles. Sharing can help diminish fear.
Be an activist. Get on board with a campaign or start your own group. Know you are not alone.
Reach out to governments and businesses to encourage them to take action now.
Go with hope instead of doom. Believe that it's not too late.
