Eco-Anxiety
Eco-anxiety is a fairly new phenomenon that is linked to the rising concern for climate change. The main symptom is an increased sense of hopelessness, existential dread, and obsessive thoughts about the Earth’s changing climate. According to research, this type of anxiety stems from a lived experience, meaning those living in the time of drastic climate changes. Though it is not clearly recognized as a mental disorder, eco-anxiety affects so much of the modern-day person’s life. Concerns of climate change affecting the amount of sun that people get and in turn affecting serotonin levels have become more prevalent because of the worry that there might be an increase in the coming years in the diagnosis of depression due to those lowered levels of the feel good hormone. This form of anxiety also is reported to stem from regret of not using more sustainable methods to take care of their environment, such as reducing their carbon footprint.
Climate change has become a rapidly increasing concern for many areas in the world. Among the most affected include Indigenous people and their communities, coastal and dry regions, low-income communities, children, senior citizens, people who have disabilities that render them unable to be mobile without assistance, and tourist regions that rely heavily on the income that tourism supplies. Those who have eco-anxiety take all of this into account and it adds to the existential dread that goes hand in hand with the disorder. Being able to control the amount of economic damage one does such as reaching out to organizations that are for the conservation of the Earth, and choosing alternative methods of transportation rather than cars or travel by anything with a motor. The main demographic that has been the most concerned of all of this is the younger generations that have inherited the climate change crisis and have to figure out how to lessen the damage that has already been done to their environment. In recent studies, 57% of the younger population, including children, teens, and young adults, have become more distressed about the climate change issue. Studies show that this worry also stems from a feeling that those in power have done more damage than healing for the environment, making it almost impossible for those who are elected next into different offices to turn things around. Even in recent research there is a projected 16% of carbon emissions increase by 2030 is one of the main concerns as far as what lies in the future for the environment.
Treatment for eco-anxiety is based in cognitive behavioral therapy and those who suffer from the “disorder” are able to discuss their beliefs and fears about climate change, and then are assisted in finding ways in which they can contribute to bettering the environmental impact they have in the world. This being said, since eco-anxiety is a nondiagnosable disorder and has not been recognized as an actual mental illness, the recommendation is to find personal changes in one’s lifestyle and making more of a conscious effort to create a safer environment around themselves.
-Written by Kylie Hamacher, Undergraduate Intern