Graphic by Jieru Ye '23
By Meryl Phair '21
Environmental Editor
Climate change reverberates throughout ecosystems as well as the human body. The direct outcomes of climate change produce physical harm to individuals through natural disasters and the creation of inhospitable environments while also impacting individuals and communities’ well-being through a wide range of mental health effects. As the planet continues to warm, we become increasingly exposed to psychological trauma connected to the destruction of the natural world.
Disasters are defined by their causes and outcomes. In “Climate Change and Public Health” edited by Barry Levy and Jonathan Patz, natural disasters are described as following a linear progression of warning, impact and recovery. Determinants of psychological effects relating to climate events can happen in any of these three phases. For example, human error or unpreparedness for a natural disaster, such as not having adequate evacuation protocols, can significantly increase disasters’ harm.
During the event, the disaster’s frequency, severity and duration all contribute to psychological impacts. Recovery responders need to address basic needs such as food, water, sanitation, shelter and health care. They often treat disaster-related injuries or respond to immediate environmental risks produced by the event. These recovery areas can all influence the short- and long-term well-being of affected people and communities.
Jennifer Albertine, visiting lecturer in environmental studies at Mount Holyoke College, said that climate change impacts mental health in three major ways. Albertine cites Levy and Patz in defining these three key areas: the direct impacts of disasters, extreme weather events and physical changes rendered to the environment; indirect impacts based on individual observation of global events; and concern for the future and indirect psychosocial consequences at community and regional levels. These groupings of mental health impacts vary by geographic location. They have also affected minority groups and those with lower socioeconomic statuses with greater severity.
The direct impacts of climate-related events include extreme weather, heat, drought, floods and landscape changes. Loss of human life, injury and infrastructure damage, as well as trauma- and stress-related disorders, can be produced. Psychological trauma can include anything from short-term acute stress disorders to post-traumatic stress disorder. The mental impairments experienced can include intrusive memories, negative mood, dissociation, avoidance, sleep disturbances, irritable behavior and hypervigilance. Adjustment disorders and impaired place attachment, particularly when landscape damage occurs, can lead to emotional and behavioral symptoms, which can affect entire communities. Anxiety and worry can be directly produced through climate change-related events, which can lead to panic attacks, loss of appetite, weakness, insomnia and depression.
Indirect impacts are more difficult to define, as they are “often gradual or cumulative in nature,” Albertine said. These emotional disturbances occur through the observation of unprecedented environmental and social changes. This could be from directly witnessing climate-related events or through processing the changing environment through social media or news sources.
Indirect impacts explain why people can experience mental health effects from climate change even when they aren’t in a community impacted by a climate disaster. A 2020 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that 67 percent of Americans are somewhat or extremely anxious about climate change’s effect on the Earth, while 55 percent are somewhat or extremely anxious about climate change’s effect on their mental health.
Indirect impacts are also influenced through social narratives and views on climate change. Those who are cautious, disengaged and doubtful of climate change trend toward having a decreased emotional response, while those who witness the direct impacts of climate change are more likely to grapple with a range of emotional reactions. For example, a community-driven multi-year project published in 2013 regarding Indigenous communities in Canada’s Inuit territories found that climate change directly alters emotional well-being. These communities experienced the melting of ice caps, landscape changes and altered weather patterns and reported that these occurrences had produced heightened anxiety, depression, fear, anger, lowered self-worth and declined overall health.
Climate change also produces the emotional responses of denial and apathy. Denial is produced through conscious social practices, such as a lack of open discussion about climate action, and subconsciously as a physiological defense. Many social scientists believe that a significant factor in apathy toward the climate crisis is rooted in the massive scale that climate change encompasses.
The last grouping of mental health impacts is psychosocial, which explains the environmental disturbances that affect communities over the long term. Climate change exacerbates heat-related violence, increasing instances of domestic violence, child abuse and crime, as well as intergroup conflict as natural resources become scarce and borders are infringed upon. It also increases displacement and migration, which complicates relationships to place and disrupts preexisting social networks, decreasing access to thriving ecosystems. This places stress on economic security and overall health.
In the face of climate change’s existential threats, individual resiliency can be built through several means. Albertine pointed out the need to ensure everyone can adapt to coming climate change, particularly those who are most vulnerable. This includes providing the means to face climate events as well as rebuilding in the aftermath. Green technology, sustainable goods and eco-friendly lifestyles must be made available and affordable to everyone. Albertine also identified the need for holding governments, industries and corporations accountable, as they are the root causes of our warming world. Albertine added, “It doesn’t matter how much we do on an individual basis if the biggest contributors aren’t acting to mitigate our greenhouse gas emissions.”