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The UK Government recently released a report into the effects of climate change on the mental health and well-being of its citizens, and it is not a happy read. It found that extreme weather events such as flooding and heat were the biggest climate change-related issues. It also found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that those issues were especially troublesome to the more vulnerable, including those who were finding it difficult to access transport and healthcare services in extreme conditions.
The analysis, called “Climate Change and Mental Health Report,” came courtesy of the UK Health Security Agency (UKSA) and did not mess about. 1
“Climate change is one of the most significant threats to health security and societal wellbeing,” it states in its foreword. And it’s not joking. In my practice, people presenting with climate change anxiety (as well as climate change-related anger and climate change-related depression) are growing more frequent.
Professor Lea Berrang-Ford, Head of the UKHA Centre for Climate Health Security (CCHS), said, “Climate change is already impacting mental health, and these risks will increase as the climate warms and extreme weather events become more frequent and severe.”
The report also found that farming communities—those most connected to the land—were especially vulnerable and were already experiencing high rates of mental health issues. Only 55 percent of farmers, for instance, felt positive about their mental health.
Young people are also vulnerable, as they worry the most about the effects that climate change will have in their lifetimes. Basically, they know they are going to see the worst of it. This understanding is coupled with the belief that there is nothing they can do to make a difference.
Another report, this time from The Lancet Planetary Health, also found that young people were feeling extremely worried about climate change, as well as other ecological crises. 2
The study involved 10,000 children and young people (aged 16 to 25) across 10 countries, including Australia, Brazil, France, India, the UK, and the USA. The researchers found that 45 percent of respondents said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning, 75 percent said they thought the future was frightening, and 83 percent thought that people had failed to take care of the planet.
Meanwhile, the UKHSA reported that “[i]nterventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or digital interventions such as mobile mindfulness apps or text-based supportive messaging associated with both climate-related weather hazards and general awareness of climate change significantly reduced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and stress.”
One-to-one therapy with a trained professional was also mentioned. My clients have certainly found rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) helpful in managing climate fears and rage, as well as an ever-growing sense of helplessness.
However, when using REBT, I find it helps to tread carefully. It feels like the end of the world to many people presenting in my clinic because if we don’t pull out of this nosedive, that is the endpoint we could be headed for. And sooner rather than later.
Climate change is a real and present threat. Just under 20 years ago, Al Gore took to the stage with the documentary An Inconvenient Truth and made climate change a constant headline ever since. And whilst attitudes in that time have rapidly moved from the position of “there is no such thing as climate change” and on to this latest UKHSA report, actual response times seem a little slower off the mark.
Adverse weather and adverse actions create adverse attitudes. Thankfully, REBT is a psychotherapy, coaching modality, and philosophy designed for dealing with the challenges and adversities of life. Its entire ethos is built around the notion that it is not the event that disturbs you, but what you are telling yourself about that event that does the disturbing. When you change what it is you are telling yourself, you can change how you think, feel, and act in the face of the same situation.
It’s not saying that climate change doesn’t influence our mental health, because it does. It’s simple: no climate change, no climate anxiety. However, more directly, it is your beliefs about climate change that exacerbate the anxiety, the anger, and the depression. Changing those beliefs is under your control. Changing those beliefs helps you to become more constructive in the face of challenge (climate or otherwise).
Taking affirmative action also helps. Protesting, donating to ecological charities, voting the right way, joining lobby groups, writing letters to companies and manufacturers, and boycotting certain goods are all proactive ways of helping yourself to not only feel better, but also feel that you are doing something.
And, whilst it is true that we should have listened more to Al Gore back in 2006, it is also true that we have not yet reached the point of no return.
