Climate Change, Mental Health, Wellbeing

The Surprising Link Between Mental Health and Climate Change

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Reading Time: 6 minutes

Unironically, let us also consider our feelings while the world is burning.

When we discuss the effects of climate change on health, we do so in terms of physical illnesses; we discuss global pandemics and vector-borne diseases. Rarely do we take a closer look at the toll a warming world has on our mental health or on our way of perceiving the climate crisis.

It is not surprising that extreme weather events induced by climate change bring about mental disorders, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), trauma and shock, compounded stress, and depression (APA, 2017). The increase in frequency and severity will only amplify such impacts and complicate the matter further through the rise of chronic effects like higher rates of aggression and mental emergencies. However, this article looks closer at the subtler effects of less acute cases, which may be more relevant to people who have not experienced a climate disaster.

The reality, at least with regards to climate change, is grim. This outlook has been reported in research and headlines alike, and one would imagine that such news would evoke a sense of fear, anxiety, and often, helplessness. But there is another common view of the climate change crisis: indifference, or “Climate Fatigue.” Both ends of the scale may hinder the growth of our psychological resilience, according to the American Psychological Association (APA), since the anxiety, fatalism, conflict avoidance, and resignation evoked by the climate crisis often indicate that our conscious and unconscious is preventing us from looking at the root of the problem and trying to find solutions (Wray, 2019).

Since the dawn of the climate crisis, climate scientists and activists have been suffering from anxiety and grief. But another segment has risen to the pedestal of “climate-linked pre-traumatic stress,”: the generation who clearly can see the reality of climate change. Psychologists report in the APA’s press-release: ‘Mental Health and our Changing Climate’  that they are witnessing a growing number of Climate Cassandras, those suffering from the impending sense of doom brought about by climate change, but feel unheard and disbelieved. As more of the climate disasters predicted unfold, people become unable to lead productive lives of their own due to feelings of frustration, worry, and depression brought about by the short-comings of the previous generation (Van Susteren, 2017). Not living productively becomes an individual ‘solution,’ based on the belief that people’s lifestyles and the bare minimum of their necessities are to blame when the issue is climate change is much more systemic.

Political scientists state that awareness of climate change can be indicated by the increasing number of informed women who decide not to have children (Wray, 2019). Despite the religious, social, and cultural norms of our region, I have heard women of scientific backgrounds make that comment. Parents will have to consider that a child born today will live in a world where natural disasters become more violent and frequent. Just the existence of this concern shows how hard-pressed this generation is becoming about the future of their children. Although the concern in the Arab region is not voiced quite as high compared to the West, where movements such as BirthStrike have risen due to existential threat, it is only a matter of time until the signs become too glaring.

A classic example of climate change on the mental well-being community is that of the Inuit people in a study conducted by Willox et. al (2013). “We are people of the sea ice,” the Inuit people describe themselves, “If there is no more sea ice, how can we be people of the sea ice?” Indigenous people of the Inuit are facing massive existential distress while witnessing ice, a major part of their identity, disintegrate before their eyes. Active traditions of hunting, trapping, fishing, and foraging are practices with deep cultural roots. They make land part of the Inuit people and a source of cultural continuity. When the place of solace and healing is compromised by even the slightest climate alterations, individual and community well-being is bound to be affected. Participants reported feelings of depression, fear, and anger on the loss of their cultural identity and self-worth by factors beyond their control (Cunsolo, 2017). This brought me to the notion of the identity of the UAE, whose people are so defined by the two sides of our country: sea and desert. Climate change is all-encompassing, which makes it very possible that it is only a matter of time before we find ourselves in the Inuit people’s shoes.

To try to avoid severe psycho-social responses to climate change and its disasters, its impacts on mental health must be understood, made aware of, and considered in decision-making. It must clearly be communicated through community support, while the community fosters practices that provide a sense of meaning and inclusion. Individuals, in turn, will then be enabled to support both themselves and their communities during changing times, and hopefully, work together to slow the tide of the climate crisis.

References:

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Maryam Almheiri (@maryammalmheiri)
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