Access and relationship to nature can have a profound impact on our mental health, and climate-aware therapists are coming together to help individuals who are experiencing what is becoming commonly known as eco-anxiety, ecological grief, or solastalgia. In honor of Earth Day, we will explore these terms and how the mental health community is responding.
The Mental Health Foundation has shared interdisciplinary and international research that demonstrates a wide range of positive emotions resulting from engagement with the natural world such as calmness, joy, creativity, and improved concentration. Self-reports of nature connectedness are also associated with decreased stress, anxiety, and depression. However, the Foundation notes that the opposite is also true, and living in or noticing damaged, degraded, or polluted natural environments can cause increased signs of depression, anxiety, and stress.
As communities encounter these impacts, having a shared language matters. These terms are not diagnoses or meant to pathologize these experiences. Instead they are meant to help individuals and communities identify their emotions around climate change, connect with others who are also navigating those emotions, and build resiliency by providing models and support to respond to these experiences. Common terms and definitions include:
- Solastalgia – “The pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault… a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at home.” (Albrecht, 2004)
- Eco-Anxiety – “Heightened emotional, mental, or somatic distress in response to dangerous changes in the climate system,” often associated with forward fixation on one’s future and of future generations. (Climate Psychology Alliance)
- Ecological Grief – The grief felt in relation to experienced or anticipated ecological losses, including the loss of species, ecosystems, and meaningful landscapes due to acute or chronic environmental change. (Consulo and Ellis, 2018)
Climate-aware therapists are filling a gap in social/clinical practices by validating clients and helping them contextualize their experiences. This kind of therapy can help clients better frame their feelings of climate distress, which may be complicated by “green-washing” tactics or feelings of guilt/shame for their individual contributions to climate change. Climate-aware therapists are also able to help clients mourn their sense of disenfranchisement or loss of the right to a clean, thriving environment.
“I offer climate aware therapy for addressing the eco-anxiety and eco-grief of climate chaos, whether resulting from high impact trauma, or the existential experience of what is occurring on a global scale, in addition to exploring ways of living a more ecoharmonious life,” explains psychologist Leslie Davenport. “Together we explore ways to move through the ambivalence that arises when we want to make lifestyle changes but feel trapped by opposing needs and desires…Being part of effective change is not always taking to the streets and protesting or signing petitions, although those do make significant social contributions. There are many ways to make a difference if we use our ecological imaginations.”
There are many risk factors that can be associated with increased likelihood and intensity of climate distress, including one’s relationship to land (professionally or culturally), proximity to climate-related incidents/events, individual or cultural beliefs about land/nature, as well as a lack of resources such as diverse hobbies and self-compassion practices.
Understanding these risk factors may help those who are struggling to explore what support looks like for them – whether that’s practices like forest bathing (also called Shinrin-Yoku a Japanese term for immersing oneself in the forest and soaking in the atmosphere through the senses), finding a local volunteer outlet or a like-minded community, talking to family and loved ones about how to take climate action, or partaking in existing cultural practices that engage with local landscapes. All of these actions can lead to what experts are calling “climate resilience” so that individuals can continue to cope with environmental issues and engage in meaningful climate action.
All people are impacted to varying degrees by their natural environment and the relationship they have to that land. The more we are able to acknowledge the impact and its role in our mental health, the stronger, healthier, and more connected we’ll be.
For more information, check out the groups below, which are working to lead the way in addressing the intersection of the natural world, climate change, and mental health. These groups provide directories of climate-aware therapists, resource guides, and toolkits, and create spaces to have conversations for individuals and communities to come together and share their stories.
