A growing number of people feel anxious about the consequences of changing climate conditions. We are bombarded with news about floods, melting glaciers and long-term drought. Can fears about the future of the climate lead to the development of symptoms of mental disorders? It turns out that such fear can contribute to the development of climate-related mental disorders, especially in people who experience symptoms of generalized anxiety, a researcher from SWPS University has found.
There is no doubt that climate change can affect people's physical and mental health1. Its effects can significantly reduce the quality of life, but the aetiology of this negative impact is not fully understood. Additionally, it is not clear whether experiencing strong distress resulting from fear of the consequences of climate change should be considered to be a symptom of a mental health crisis. Although climate change-related distress can increase the risk of mental disorders, in many cases, such distress is not enough to cause mental health crises.
Climate change may reduce mental well-being
Scientists from the SWPS University recruited a representative group of Polish men and women to analyse their level of climate change-related distress, the occurrence of climate change-related symptoms of mental disorders, their generalized anxiety, and the presence of symptoms of depression. They described the results in the paper "Relationships between climate change distress, generalized anxiety, and climate-related symptoms of mental disorders" published in the journal Anxiety, Stress and Coping.
To measure the level of climate change-related distress, participants in the study were asked whether they were worried about the future in the context of climate change and whether thinking about the consequences of climate change made them angry, anxious, or sad. They were also asked questions about climate related-symptoms of mental disorder such as: "Do you have nightmares thinking about climate change?", "Does thinking about climate change make you have problems with memory and/or concentration?". Generalized anxiety and depression were measured using standard screening questionnaires.
The researchers assumed that although climate change-related distress exists and affects people, it is different from other types of mental suffering that can be the basis for diagnosing mental disorders2. Moreover, they expected that although climate change-related distress could predispose some people to experience more serious mental problems, referred to as climate change-related symptoms of mental disorders (e.g. sleep or concentration problems), climate change-related distress would usually not be a sufficient cause of mental disorders.
We assumed that the occurrence of climate change-related symptoms of mental disorders would be greater in people experiencing symptoms of depression or generalized anxiety than it would be for people not experiencing depression of generalized anxiety.
Marzena Cypryańska-Nezlek, PhD, psychologist, head of the Center for Climate Action and Social Transformations, SWPS University
Climate concerns - they can be harmful, but something else is also dangerous
The researchers predicted that climate change-related distress would increase the likelihood of the occurrence of systems of climate change-related symptoms of mental disorders, but the intensity of these symptoms was related to something else. Although the majority of the participants in the study reported experiencing some amount of climate change-related distress, symptoms of mental disorders were present only in some of them, e.g. only 5.3% had problems with planning their activities due to thinking about climate change.
The results show that what promotes climate change-related mental disorders is not climate change-related distress itself; rather, the level of generalized anxiety is responsible for this. The higher the level of generalized anxiety participants in the study had, the higher the intensity of climate change-related symptoms of mental disorders. Interestingly, climate change-related mental disorder was correlated with generalized anxiety, but it was not correlated with depression.
Reactions to ongoing climate change may include a higher level of stress and mental discomfort that is associated with experiencing unpleasant emotional states. Some people also experience climate change-related symptoms of mental disorders, but the frequency of these symptoms is correlated with the level of generalized anxiety. The results also suggest that it is generalized anxiety, not depression, that is associated with the occurrence of climate change-related symptoms of mental disorders. These results suggest that he term "climate depression", which is often used in the media, is not accurate. This term suggests that climate change causes depression. The results of this study show that, firstly, it is not the awareness of climate change itself that causes symptoms of mental disorders, and secondly, if these symptoms do occur, they are more likely to be related to anxiety rather than to depression
Marzena Cypryańska-Nezlek, PhD, psychologist, head of the Center for Climate Action and Social Transformations
Although she is confident in the validity of her study and its results, further research on this topic is needed.
More information in research publication:
Nezlek, J. B., Cypryanska-Nezlek, M. (2024). Relationships between climate change distress, generalized anxiety, and climate-related symptoms of mental disorders Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 37(5), 545–557.
1 Clayton, S., Manning, C., Krygsman, K., & Speiser, M. (2017). Mental health and our changing climate: Impacts, implications, and guidance. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/mental-health-climate.pdf.
2 Kessler, R. C., Andrews, G., Colpe, L. J., Hiripi, E., Mroczek, D. K., Normand, S. L. T., Walters, E. E., & Zaslaysky, A. M. (2002). Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine, 32(6), 959-976. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291702006074