CLIMATE ANXIETY

1. Context

2. Climate Anxiety

• Climate anxiety describes a sense of panic, worry, and fear towards the consequences and uncertainty brought by climate change.
• The term "Climate anxiety" is sometimes used interchangeably with "eco-anxiety", which some health professionals and researchers refer to as anxiety felt about wider ecological issues. Researchers suggest climate anxiety can be shaped by our environments.
• For example, the type of media we see about climate change, how the people around us feel, or how our communities and governments are responding.
• Research shows climate anxiety is felt around the world, especially among young people.
• Climate anxiety is not officially recognized as a condition or a mental health disorder in the diagnostic manuals relied upon by psychologists, psychiatrists, and other health professionals.

3. Symptoms of Climate Anxiety

• Grief and sadness over the loss of natural environments or wildlife populations.
• Anger or frustration specifically towards people who don't acknowledge climate change or towards older generations for not making more progress.
• Obsessive thoughts about the climate.
• Guilt or shame related to your carbon footprint.
• After experiencing the effects of climate change-Post traumatic stress (Psychosomatic stress experienced by people of Kerela after floods)
• Feelings of depression, anxiety, or panic
• An existential dread-feeling as if you have reached a standstill.

4. How does climate change affect people?

• All irreversible climatic changes are interconnected to human life.
• The melting of polar ice will lead to rising sea levels which will, in turn, force people living near the shores and on small islands, to relocate.
• It will also cause saltwater intrusion into freshwater lakes and rivers and lead to long droughts that will cause famines.
• The warmer the summers, the colder the winters. Today, even the cities near the shores are subjected to colder nights and warmer days.
• This is due to the intense pollution and greenhouse gases in the air.
• Increased carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and other harmful gases are found in excessive abundance, right now.

5. Channeling climate anxiety for good

• While climate anxiety can have a negative impact on mental well-being, research findings from 32 countries have shown that some people may be channeling their climate anxiety in ways to help the environment, such as through pro-environmental behaviors and environmental activism, such as climate protests.
• Australian data shows experiencing "eco-anger" which refers to anger or frustration about ecological issues leads to better mental health outcomes and is a key adaptive emotional driver of engagement with the climate crisis.
• But the more intense experiences of frustration and anger in relation to climate change are associated with greater attempts to take personal actions to address the issue. This suggests getting angry may help prompt some people to do something about climate change.

6. How to manage climate anxiety?

• Spending time in nature
• Learning ways to ground yourself during distressing emotions
• Seeking support
• Taking breaks to prevent burnout
• Taking small everyday actions for self-care.

For Prelims