5 Key Overviews of Climate Change’s Mental Health Impacts

1)   Hayes, K., Blashki, G., Wiseman, J., Burke, S., & Reifels, L. (2018). Climate change and mental health: risks, impacts and priority actions. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 12 (28). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13033-018-0210-6

Despite its publication in 2018 and the presence of newer research, Hayes et al. is a classic overview. The article organizes impacts into direct, indirect, and overarching effects. This article stands the test of time and identifies priority areas for policy change.

2)   Clayton, S., Manning, C., Krygsman, K., & Speiser, M. (2017). Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance. Washington, DC American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica.

Report found here.

This is a classic 2017 report from the APA, in partnership with ecoAmerica and Climate for Health—an extensive overview that focuses on psychological perspectives on climate. The report contains strong sections on how we can respond to the climate crisis through action. Still highly relevant today.

3)   Lawrance, E., Thompson, R., Fontana, G., & Jennings, N. (2021). The impact of climate change on mental health and emotional wellbeing: current evidence and implications for policy and practice. Briefing Paper. 36, Grantham Institute, Imperial College London.    

Briefing paper here.

Recording of international launch of this briefing paper here.

This briefing paper, along with accompanying animation, shows how climate change is negatively affecting the mental health and emotional wellbeing of people around the world. Coming from a British perspective, it proposes a detailed set of recommendations to stimulate greater knowledge, awareness and action for all sectors including policy makers, research institutions and mental health practitioners.

 4)   Van Susteren, L. (2020). Psychological Impacts of Climate Change and Recommendations. In W.K. Al-Delaimy, V. Ramanathan, & M. Sánchez Sorondo, M., (Eds.). Health of People, Health of Planet and Our Responsibility (pp. 177-192). Springer Open.

Chapter (accessible for free) here.

This book chapter written by Dr. Lise Van Susteren, CPA co-founder and steering committee member, is centered on the argument that “Understanding the gravity of the mounting psychological harm [caused by climate change] underscores the urgent need for all those concerned, especially public officials, to take action.”

5)   Palinkas L., & Wong M. (2020). Global climate change and mental health. Current Opinion in Psychology, 32. 12-16. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.023.

This current, systematic review focuses on three types of climate-related events: (1) acute events such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires; (2) subacute or long-term changes such as drought and heat stress; and (3) the existential threats of long-lasting changes, including higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and a permanently altered and potentially uninhabitable physical environment.

Essential Topics in Climate Psychology

Children and Young People:

• Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, E., Mayall, E., Wray, B., Mellor, C., & Van Susteren, L. (Accepted/In press). A global survey of climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change. Lancet Planetary Health.

Find the paper here.

A global survey of climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change.

• Ojala, M. (2012). How do children cope with global climate change? Coping Strategies, engagement and well-being.  Journal of Environmental Psychology, 32 (3) 225-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2012.02.004

A questionnaire study that researches 12-year-olds’ meaning-focused coping mechanisms. CPA Steering Committee member Dr. Janet Lewis calls the study “an exciting paper about coping with knowledge of climate change.”

• Our children face “pretraumatic stress” from worries about climate change, opinion by Dr. Lise Van Susteren in the British Medical Journal on November 9th, 2020.
  

• Expert Report of Dr. Lise Van Susteren to the United States District Court of Oregon, in the hearing of Juliana vs. United States.

• van Nieuwenhuizen, A., Hudson, K., Chen, X. et al. The Effects of Climate Change on Child and Adolescent Mental Health: Clinical Considerations. Curr Psychiatry Rep 23, 88 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-021-01296-y

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-021-01296-y

Review of recent literature on the effects of climate change on child and adolescent mental health with a discussion of treatment and engagement by clinicians.

Air Pollution and Children

• Antonsen, S., Mok, P. L., Webb, R. T., Mortensen, P. B., McGrath, J. J., Agerbo, E., ... & Pedersen, C. B. (2020). Exposure to air pollution during childhood and risk of developing schizophrenia: a national cohort study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 4 (2), 64-73. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30004-8
  

• Brokamp, C., Strawn, J. R., Beck, A. F., & Ryan, P. (2019). Pediatric psychiatric emergency department utilization and fine particulate matter: A case-crossover study. Environmental health perspectives, 127 (9). https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4815 

Heat and Suicide

• Burke, M., González, F., Baylis, P., Heft-Neal, S., Baysan, C., Basu, S., & Hsiang, S. (2018). Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico. Nature climate change, 8 (8), 723-729. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0222-x

Climate Change and Trauma

• Augustinavicius, J. L., Lowe, S. R., Massazza, A., Hayes, K., Denckla, C., White, R. G., Cabán-Alemán, C., Clayton, S., Verdeli, L., Berry, H. (2021) Global climate change and trauma: An International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Briefing Paper.

Find the briefing paper here. 

Eco-Distress/Eco-Grief

• Coffey, Y, et al. Understanding Eco-Anxiety: A Systematic Scoping Review of the Current Literature and Identified Knowledge Gaps.  J.Climate Change and Health. 2021, Aug.; 3, 100047

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667278221000444

• Cunsolo, A., & Ellis, N.R. (2018). Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss. Nature Climate Change, 8, 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2

Duty to Warn

•  Our Moral Obligation: Duty to Warn, Duty to Act, by Dr. Lise Van Susteren. Opinion, Huffpost, published on May 25th, 2011.

*This opinion piece is not peer reviewed.

Psychotherapy and Climate

• Lewis, H., Haase, E, & Trope, A. (2020). Climate Dialectics in Psychotherapy: Holding Open the Space Between Abyss and Advance. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 48 (3), 271-294. https://doi.org/10.1521/pdps.2020.48.3.271.

Research can be found here.

This study explores the complexities of psychic states that can lead to “splitting of reactions into polarities, or dialectics, which must be contained to reduce climate distress and held open for generative use towards climate adaptation.” The article presents a “dynamic model for addressing climate change material within psychotherapy.”

Research Directions and Gaps

• Wortzel, J.R., Lee, J., Benoit, L. et al. Perspectives on Climate Change and Pediatric Mental Health: a Qualitative Analysis of Interviews with Researchers in the Field. Acad Psychiatry 46, 562–568 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-022-01707-z

• Hwong AR, Wang M, Khan H, Chagwedera DN, Grzenda A, Doty B, Benton T, Alpert J, Clarke D, Compton WM. Climate change and mental health research methods, gaps, and priorities: a scoping review. Lancet Planet Health. 2022 Mar;6(3):e281-e291. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00012-2. PMID: 35278392.