Mental Health Climate Change
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Connecting Climate Minds
Connecting Climate Minds is a global project to bridge critical gaps in research and action at the intersection of mental health and climate change.
WHAT IS PLANETARY HEALTH?
Mental Health
Environmental degradation impacts mental health through increased frequency and severity of diseases, disorders, and distress while reducing modifiers that promote well-being, such as nutrition and social capital.
Studies illuminate both the mental health benefits of exposure to nature and the harms—including anxiety, depression, substance abuse, PTSD, and suicide—that have been linked to environmental degradation. While more research is needed, a growing evidence base explores the mental health dimensions of global environmental change.
Global environmental change negatively impacts mental health through various mechanisms, ranging from the direct effects of extreme weather events to the long-term consequences of disrupted livelihoods, food and water insecurity, and dislocation. Other studies have linked exposure to high levels of heat to sleep loss, and associated particulate air pollution and higher rates of postpartum depression. Awareness of the degradation of Earth systems is associated with eco-anxiety or solastalgia. We also know that these mental health effects are disproportionately experienced by certain communities including Indigenous peoples, low-income individuals, children, older adults, individuals with disabilities and chronic illnesses, among others.
At the same time, it is important to note the benefits of spending time in nature. A review of randomized control trials shows that nature-based interventions improve depressive mood, reduce anxiety, and reduce negative affect. Better understanding of both these risks and benefits could meaningfully inform resource management decisions and urban design to mitigate the mental health impacts of environmental change.
See Also
Mental Health Resources
Life Stage and Reproductive Health Mental Health
Exploring the psychological impacts of water-based outdoor physical activities on university students: A qualitative interview study. Nature Scientific Reports.
This qualitative study interviewed 11 university students to explore how water-based outdoor physical activities like diving and dragon boating affect mental health. Researchers identified eight psychological themes, including fear, awe, meaning, and identity.
• Research & Reports
Mental Health
Psychometric validation of the solastalgia scale: An analysis of the mediating role of anxiety and depression in an Italian sample. Journal of Public Health.
• Research & Reports
Mental Health Technology and Innovation
Electroencephalography-based psychological and physiological effects of winter virtual forest trail landscapes on youth. Nature Scientific Reports.
• Research & Reports
Mental Health Equity and Justice
Unseen scars: Understanding the mental health burdens of climate change on indigenous and rural Peruvian women. PLOS Climate.
Researchers highlight the significant but often overlooked mental health consequences of climate change affecting Indigenous and rural Peruvian women. Through walking interviews with 48 women across Peru’s diverse ecological regions, they documented how environmental disruptions trigger psychological distress that intensifies existing social vulnerabilities.
• Research & Reports
Mental Health Climate Change
Climate change anxiety: A meta-analysis. Global Environmental Change.
• Research & Reports
News Related to Mental Health
Can Listening to Nature Save Humankind?
