Dealing with the Effects of Climate Change on Mental Health
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: INTRODUCTION Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area. The climate of a location is affected by its latitude/longitude, terrain, altitude, land use, and nearby water bodies and their currents.[1] The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change defines climate change as a change which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and an addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods, which can be over many years or decades.[2] Mental health, as defined by the World Health Organization, is a state of well-being whereby individuals recognize their abilities, are able to cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and fruitfully, and make a contribution to their communities. Mental health is about enhancing competencies of individuals and communities and enabling them to achieve their self-determined goals.[3] Climate change affects the human race globally in multiple ways including food chain, vector control, industrialization, disaster preparedness, and others, all of which have direct and indirect effects on the mental health of those affected. Those with low adaptability and high vulnerability such as the poor, children, and the elderly have been shown to be at greater risk of these effects.[4] In addition to this, climate change increases the frequency of natural disasters such as flooding. Those who experience natural disasters are at increased risk of posttraumatic stress disorder and similar conditions.[5] It is important to study the effects of climate change on mental health globally because it affects the productivity, quality of life, and general well-being of world population.[4] CLIMATE CHANGE AND MENTAL HEALTH Climate-related exposures, including heat, humidity, rainfall, drought, wildfires, and floods, are associated with psychological distress, worsened mental health, increased psychiatric hospitalizations, higher suicide rates, and higher mortality among people with preexisting mental health conditions.[6] People exposed to events related to climate change have increased risks of mental health disorders ranging from common mental health problems such as adjustment disorders, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse to chronic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.[7] Vulnerable and marginalized populations, including people with preexisting mental illnesses and those experiencing homelessness, are expected to be at higher risk of climate change-associated mental health problems than the general population.[8] In addition, the debilitating effects of a changing climate can induce the feelings of despair and hopelessness as actions to address the challenges of climate change appear insignificant in comparison to the scale and magnitude of the threats.[9] However, these same disastrous circumstances may inspire altruism, compassion, and optimism and foster a sense of meaning, togetherness, and corporate and personal growth (otherwise referred to as posttraumatic growth) as people bond together to salvage, rebuild, and console among the chaos and loss of a changing climate.[9] CLIMATE CHANGE AND MAJOR DEPRESSION Studies have shown that experiences that reduce people’s self-esteem and self-confidence are risk factors for depression.[7] Loss of jobs, homes, and loved ones resulting from climate-related events such as wildfire, hurricane, and flood and/or other disasters can have this effect. In addition, the news regarding climate change can make people feel uncertain and stressed, increasing the sense of powerlessness and the risk for depression.[10] This can be worsened by absent or poor social support due to physical detachment from relatives and significant others following climate disasters.[11] Besides, these experiences of fear, loneliness, and isolation have been reported as key factors in the management of depression among adolescents.[12] Climate change has been reported as a major risk factor for depression among adolescents as it aggravates preexisting vulnerabilities such as genetic loading, low socioeconomic status, and adverse life events.[13] CLIMATE CHANGE AND ANXIETY DISORDERS Experience of threat, including climate-related threat, is a major risk factor for anxiety disorders. For instance, persons internally displaced by earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires and other climate disasters often experience health effects. Consequently, they are more prone to developing anxiety disorders than the general population.[7] It was projected that if 10%–15% of people were to develop severe anxiety or other disorders following a natural disaster like hurricane, the healthcare system could be overwhelmed. This means there would be more patients’ load than the available health workers momentarily and may have burdensome effects on the healthcare workers. The health workers may also experience work-related stress, thereby increasing the risk of burnout among them.[14] Moreover, people affected by anxiety from climate change commonly speak of emotional distress evoked by perceived negative changes in valued physical and natural spaces. They tend to experience a paralysing fear of the end of the world, and of a deep sense of despair about how future generations may be harmed by climate change. Anxiety about a future Earth made unlivable by climate change is linked to a growing number of individuals deciding not to have children.[15] Anxiety disorder is associated with substantial burden and increased risk for other mental disorders because of low presentation at treatment facilities.[16] Posttraumatic stress disorder typically complicates anxiety disorders among people who experience multiple and/or long-lasting traumatic events induced by climate change, especially the ones involving the loss of lives or properties.[17] CLIMATE CHANGE AND SLEEP DISORDERS Climate-related stress can alter the quantity and quality of sleep of affected individuals.[18] Climate disasters can disrupt sleep as survivors may need to stay awake at night to relocate to safer places, plan out strategies for survival, and care for their children and other family members.[19] A 1°C rise in monthly night-time temperatures is associated with an increase of about an hour of insufficient sleep per person in the United States.[15] Sleep deprivation can lead to depressive and anxiety disorders, which, in turn, can disrupt sleep.[20] CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS In response to climate-related distress, individuals may turn to substance use as it increases the release of certain brain chemicals that suppress anxious feelings and consequently replace the negative emotions with pleasurable feelings.[7] Substance use may increase the risk for developing mental health disorders or worsen the clinical states in those with established psychiatric disorders.[7] Young people face higher vulnerability to mental health problems and substance use disorders as well as a greater number of years ahead in which to be exposed to current and worsening climate change.[21] The pathway to substance use following climate change is a complex interaction between psychosocial stress arising from the disruption of the socioeconomic, environmental, and geopolitical support system.[6] In a way, due to the reality of climate change from a natural disaster such as flood or hurricane, survivors may take to substance use to cope with the loss of businesses or properties. On the other hand, the continuous use of some of these substances may increase the risk of other mental health disorders, thereby worsening the socioeconomic status of these individuals from absenteeism at work, lay-offs, or spending hugely on medications.[9] It has been reported that excessive intake of alcohol increases the risk for depression by fourfold and the risk is still present even after reducing or stopping the intake.[7] Furthermore, the effects of climate change are often pronounced among ethnic minorities, those with low social and economic class, and those with a previous history of mental illness. For the latter, continuous intake of psychoactive substances with a primary mental health disorder increases the risk of relapse, chronicity, and eventual poor social and occupational functioning.[22] CLIMATE CHANGE AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS Climate change has been reported to worsen preexisting physical illnesses in certain individuals. Conditions such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus can be made worse by flooding that has resulted in making affected people homeless. These conditions reduce the body’s immune system, while poor feeding patterns from being homeless, altered emotional regulation from elaborated stress hormone may lead to worsening of symptoms in these physical conditions thereby resulting in overwhelming complications.[7] Furthermore, due to the expansion of vector range, shortening of disease-causing micro-organisms’ incubation period, and relocation of human population, the spread of certain viruses like arboviruses occurs due to climate change. This spread may lead to the emergence of infections manifesting with symptoms such as fever, muscle and joint pains, cough, and diarrhea. Due to internal displacement from climate change, low socioeconomic status resulting from job loss, and business failure may lead to lack of availability of food materials and potable water. These may lead to reduced immunity, malnutrition, and water-borne diseases.[19] Generally, physical disorders are risk factors for depression, and the link between the two has been evaluated overtime. In a way, some individuals may develop negative emotions based on their perception of physical illness and climate change and end up having the risk for depression increased in them. The relationship between physical and other mental disorders may follow a similar pattern.[7] SOCIOECONOMIC EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE Climate change usually presents with certain socioeconomic consequences such as job loss, poverty, social deprivation, social exclusion, unemployment, homelessness, and increased rate of social vices such as stealing and transactional sex.[23] All these are probable precipitants of mental health disorders.[20] Studies from India and Bangladesh in Southeast Asia have reported that flood brings about mourning, displacement, and psychological and social distress due to loss of lives and belongings as a direct outcome of the disaster or its consequences. All these are risk factors for PTSD, depression and anxiety disorder.[10] Climate change may lead to socioeconomic decline following absenteeism from work, loss of job and properties, and business failure, and all these may increase the risk for mental illness or worsen preexisting mental illness. Studies have shown that mental health disorders can lead to social drift such that people who initially were on the high socioeconomic status nosedive into low socioeconomic status as a result of impairment of social and occupational functioning from the illness. This usually occurs because mental illness sometimes robs people of their innate capacities to make rational decisions, thereby limiting their social and occupational functioning.[7] Climate change can act as a threat amplifier by magnifying preexisting economic, racial, ethnic, and health disparities by disproportionately affecting vulnerable and marginalized populations who are already at risk for psychiatric disorders.[8] This is because some hotspots for some natural disasters are occupied by ethnic minorities who are detached from urbanization, adequate social and medical amenities, and economic and career opportunities. When areas like this experience natural disasters such as flood, they become further plunged into the menace of socioeconomic squalor. This is the case in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.[10] RECOMMENDATIONS For adequate policy-making and implementation to drive optimal public and international mental well-being, the following points will be recommended: National leaders and policymakers must endeavor to be more proactive with adequate preparedness for the impacts of climate change. This can be done by engaging necessary stakeholders such as the National Emergency Management Agencies, nongovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, meteorologists, and other experts in environmental studies such as geography, demography for adequate landscaping, and evaluation of geographical characteristics of specific areas of each country that are prone to specific natural disasters, e.g. flood and wildfire, and mapping out strategies in combating them. Identifying such areas and putting up measures such as construction of high-powered drainage systems to combat flooding can help in reducing the menace of some of these disasters. This can be done by setting a favorable target of about 1–2 years depending on the mobilization of financial and human resources. International support can also be obtained from foreign agencies such as the United Nations and the International Union for Conservation of Nature to facilitate some of these projects. In all of these, climate justice issues such as equality, human rights, collective rights, and the historical responsibilities for climate change should be adequately ensured. Furthermore, professionals such as engineers and geologists should be employed for adequate execution of such projects. The rulers of the vulnerable and/or affected communities should be communicated and collaborated with appropriately so as to ensure the provision of ad hoc human resources for the smooth execution of such projects Recently, especially after COVID, population mental health seems to have enjoyed the attention of policymakers globally. This can be continued in terms of provision of more funds and research and necessary preventive measures can be structured to combat mental health disorders resulting from climate change. Furthermore, a national mental health response team should be constituted in all countries with representatives in each state and locality. This team should have frequent training and re-training so that their activities can be adapted to meet the needs of the victims of any climate-related event. This network of bodies would work together by ensuring the appropriate drafting of a manual or policy regarding the provision of prompt and required services and the limitation of disabilities among affected individuals. They would also ensure proper budgetary allocation is mobilized by the federal government for adequate preparation, rapid emergency response, and research in the event of climate change. Adequate preparation entails primordial and primary prevention measures. These include policies by all tiers of government to identify vulnerable landmarks for particular disasters. It also includes educating the populace of vulnerable communities on what to do and not to do to prevent disasters, e.g. proper waste disposal and construction methods to prevent flooding. Rapid response involves secondary, tertiary, and quaternary prevention measures which include triaging, identifying those that need immediate help and proffering them, limiting disabilities, and reducing physical and psychological complications from the disasters. As regards research, this would be a continuous endeavor about disaster prevention, management, and the mental health effects, and it would involve all types of research such as case reports, case series, observational studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis Mental health promotion should be strengthened, especially at vulnerable communities, and psychological first aid should be taught to primary healthcare workers. This is called task-sharing in global mental health. Certified mental health professionals like psychiatrists and psychologists can go into various communities prone to some specific devastating climate change events to teach the primary care workers psychological first aid. This would also increase the awareness of the public on the subject and also increase the rapidity of response during periods of actual crises. By doing this, victims of climate change would be rapidly linked with adequate sources of support and reduce the overall psychiatric morbidity from climate change. Improving on these aspects can help in the provision of appropriate response to disasters. CONCLUSION Climate change is a global phenomenon premised on certain human activities, and it is associated with myriads of mental health and physical disorders alongside varying socioeconomic outcomes which have been reported locally and globally. Although further research is needed on the subject, public policies, population mental health promotions, and advocacies can prevent or modify the effects of these conditions in vulnerable and affected individuals.
Author: Abolaji Paul Adekeye
Institution: Afe Babalola University
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4412553940