The impact of the climate crisis on mental health

The effects on our mind

I’m there now several studies that demonstrate how climate change can negatively affect mental health people, both directly and indirectly. They cover the scientific literature since at least 2013, with the WHO survey «Protecting health from climate change: vulnerability and adaptation assessment» and arrive at more recent surveys such as «Climate Change and Mental Health: A Scoping Review» published a couple of years ago. In general, everyone agrees that climate change can have significant effects on people’s mental health, causing problems such as anxiety, depression e post-traumatic stress disorder. In particular, extreme weather events such as floods, storms and heat waves can cause severe emotional and psychological distress in populations.

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In this perspective, the European Union Health Policy Platform recently hosted a webinar entitled ‘Towards a Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health – Strengthening the link between mental health and the environment’. The event brought together players, experts and industry players from different parts of Europe to discuss current trends strategy of implementing mental health and psychosocial support in national health and climate change policies.

Among the most urgent topics on the agenda was also theeducation of mental health workers, who must be prepared to face the mental health problems linked precisely to climate upheavals. Indeed, the extent of climate-related mental health risk is particularly important for women communities in low- and middle-income countriesfor the indigenous peoplesfor i children they teenagersbecause they are more fragile in the face of climate change and the consequences it entails in terms of prospects and quality of life.

Climate change is due to both unsustainable human activities and natural disasters. Together, they may worsen social and environmental risk factors for mental health and psychosocial problems. An example? It is known that prolonged periods of drought or conversely of extreme events they affect the agricultural yield of a certain place, driving communities into poverty, forced migration and the increase in conflict, all of which in turn play a tremendously central role in the deterioration of mental health. L’air pollution during periods of high temperatures it can instead cause respiratory problems, thus compromising a person’s ability to work. And, again, manifesting its effects also from a psychological point of view. Our physical and mental health is intertwined with the health of the planet or at least of the ecosystem in which we live our days.

The worsening of the climate crisis, the bombardment of catastrophic news, the inability to narrate and report scenarios in a sufficiently problematic way, the hypersimplification of the contrasts has also led to the emergence of new terms, useful for describing the stress linked to the climate change: from «solastalgia» to eco-anxiety via environmental anxiety, ecological pain and psychological discomfort. However, Ana Tijerinoof the WHO Europe Mental Health Coalition working group, warned against the indiscriminate use of these terms without adequate background research to justify and contextualize their use.

The necessary measures according to WHO

To counter the impacts of climate change on mental health, the need to build a health system that is also prepared for this type of challenge, unpublished but basically up to a certain point. Mental health workers are key to managing mental risks related to climate change, as they have daily contact with all types of patients, even the most vulnerable. For example, as summer approaches, frontline experts could work together with their patients to develop a heat protection plan to help manage mental health issues resulting from dehydration. “They can use their role to act as amplifiers in the name of transformative action at the behavioral and systems level,” he says. Ilonka Horváthhealth expert at the Austrian Institute of Public Health

It is no coincidence that the WHO launched a political document in which he called for the implementation of multi-sectoral and community-based approaches both to reduce vulnerabilities and to address the mental health and psychosocial impacts of the phenomena that are affecting the planet and which, in their local developments, affect practically every latitude.

During the online summit they were also proposed some examples mental health and psychosocial support provided to Croatian population during the 2020 earthquake. Case studies demonstrating the importance of mental health support during emergencies and especially in the aftermath, an aspect often overlooked and under-funded by the authorities. Individual psychological first aid was provided in the centres, as well as social activities for the children, administrative support and so on. Mobile teams have also been organized for remote areas and areas with less access to assistance. Approximately 50% of the population vulnerable to mental health problems were older people and 50% of those affected required further support after the first visit of the mobile psychological support team.

“This shows how important mental health support is after emergencies and also in the aftermath because the programs we’ve been working on are still active and the needs are still huge,” he commented. Marija Juzbasic, head of the psychosocial support and protection of the vulnerable group of the Croatian Red Cross. After the departure of the emergency teams, local mental health workers, hospitals, experts and social assistance centers continued to address the psychological well-being of those affected.

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