21 Jul Climate Change Causing “Eco-Anxiety”
One definition of existential angst is becoming aware of the possibility that life lacks meaning, causing an extreme form of anxiety and a feeling of despair or hopelessness. Since the 2016 election, existential angst has become a thing. And the term now has babies, like “Eco-Anxiety.” A story from EcoWatch explains.
Do the daily climate change headlines make you feel stressed, afraid or powerless? If so, you’re certainly not alone.
A growing number of people report feelings of loss, grief, worry and despair amid news that climate change is making natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires worse and more common, that polar ice is melting faster than we thought and that we only have 12 years to prevent the most catastrophic effects of climate change.
The American Psychological Association has come up with a term for these “resounding chronic psychological consequences” related to how we process the climate crisis: eco-anxiety.
Eco-Anxiety, which the APA describes as a “chronic fear of environmental doom,” isn’t listed anywhere in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the handbook for diagnosing mental illnesses — but it has found its way into pop culture.
In an interview with The Sunday Times promoting his new solo album, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke said that uncertainty stemming from societal issues like climate change is contributing to a rise in people’s anxiety and depression around the world. And a recent episode of the popular HBO drama Big Little Lies showed that children can be just as vulnerable to eco-anxiety as adults, as the 9-year-old daughter of one of the main characters has a panic attack at school and faints in a closet following a lesson about climate change.
“Her class is evidently talking about climate change, and she’s gotten the message that we’re doomed,” a school psychiatrist tells the main character afterward. A teacher adds that it’s important for the children to “deconstruct” climate change “so they can process it.”
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