Climate change can affect mental health? Polish scientists with “eco-lame”
As it turns out, the fear of the future of the planet, associated with the climate crisis, can turn into something more serious. Scientists from SWPS even write about mental disorders.
Already in 2019, the Australian Medical Association warned that climate change would have various types of health consequences – including mental nature. Fear of the climate crisis meant that many people reported to doctors concerns about themselves and their children. There was also talk of a deep feeling of loss, hopelessness, anger on the effects of climate crisis.
Scientists examined Eco-Lęk
Scientists dealing with this phenomenon emphasize that it is important to understand such a reaction. They also want the increasingly popular term “eco-lake” to be better understood and raise objections to use the term “climate depression”. Instead, they propose “ecological regret”, felt in connection with experienced or expected losses in the environment.
As they explain, the emotions associated with eco-lamel people combine with fear as a general concept. Therefore, we are talking about negative emotionality, which has physical symptoms and is associated with fear -oriented fear. The research reported being physically sick, panic attacks and adverse emotional reactions: irritability, insomnia, weakness, sadness, depression, numbness, helplessness, hopelessness, guilt, frustration or anger. Even mentioned about apathy.
Scientists from the SWPS University in Warsaw in March 2024 tested over 1,100 people in terms of distress in connection with climate change. They also checked mental disorders associated with this, the level of general anxiety or the presence of depression symptoms. The results of their research can be found in the magazine “Anxiety, Stress and Coping” in the article “Relationshipships Between Climate Change Distress, Generalized Anxiety, and Climeate-Related Symptoms of Mental Disorders.”
Eco-lam associated with generalized anxiety, but not with depression
-We assumed that the occurrence of symptoms of mental disorders associated with climate change may be greater among people who have symptoms of depression or generalized anxiety than among people who do not experience such symptoms-explained in an interview with PAP Dr. Marzena Cypryńska-Nizlek from the Faculty of Psychology in Warsaw Uswps, head of the activities for climate and social transformation.
This assumption turned out to be right. The higher the level of generalized anxiety was, the greater the intensity of the symptoms of mental disorders against the climate. However, the level of symptoms was associated with generalized fear, but not with depression.
– The reaction to the climate change may be a higher level of stress and psychological discomfort associated with the feeling of unpleasant emotional states. Some people also experience symptoms of mental disorders associated with climate change, and the frequency of these symptoms is associated with the level of generalized anxiety-added the co-author of the study dr Marzena Cypryńska-Nizlek from the Psychology Department in Warsaw using.
– The results of this study show that, firstly, the awareness of climate change is not caused by symptoms of mental disorders, and secondly, if these symptoms occur, they do not have to be associated with depression – she emphasized.
