Eastern Journal of Psychiatry

Register      Login

VOLUME 23 , ISSUE 1 ( January-June, 2020 ) > List of Articles

View Point

Climate Change and Mental Health: Where do We Stand?

Suhasini Das, Kangkan Pathak

Citation Information : Das S, Pathak K. Climate Change and Mental Health: Where do We Stand?. 2020; 23 (1):30-31.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-11001-0006

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 15-11-2021

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2020; The Author(s).


Abstract

Climate change is a serious public health crisis of international concern. It has been interconnected to chronic medical conditions also as psychological state and may propel the body's response to existing environmental assaults into overdrive. It is well documented that climate change causes significant stress and distress, anxiety-related responses as well as chronic and severe mental health disorders. The exiting literatures found that acute events have been associated with elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSDs), and high-risk coping behaviors, such as alcohol use and abuse, aggressive behavior, post-traumatic stress, and domestic violence have also been associated with changing climate. The changes in climates have been directly connected to human activities and not merely due to normal patterns of nature. Thus, this article may act as a quick reference for those interested in studying the various physical and psychological aspects of climate change.


HTML PDF Share
  1. Fact Sheets(Detail): Climate change and health. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2018. Available from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health (Accessed on 24/03/2021).
  2. Smith KR, Woodward A, Campbell-Lendrum D, et al. Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits. In Field CB, Barros VR, Dokken DJ et al (eds) Climate Change 2014 Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014 (pp. 709–754). Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
  3. Watts N, Amann M, Ayeb-Karlsson S, et al. The Lancet countdown on health and climate change: from 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health. Lancet 2018; 391(10120): 581-630. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32464-9. Epub 2017 Oct 30. Erratum in: Lancet. 2017 Nov 23. Erratum in: Lancet. 2020 Jun 6;395 (10239):1762. PMID: 29096948.
  4. Padhy SK, Sarkar S, Panigrahi M, et al. Mental health effects of climate change. Indian J Occup Environ Med. 2015; 19(1):3–7. DOI: 10.4103/0019-5278.156997. PMID: 26023264; PMCID: PMC4446935.
  5. Kessler RC, Galea S, Gruber MJ, et al. Trends in mental illness and suicidality after Hurricane Katrina. Mol Psychiatry 2008;13:374–384.
  6. Albretch G. Chronic environmental change: emerging psychoterratic syndromes. In Weissbecker I. (eds.) Climate Change and Human Wellbeing. International and Cultural Psychology, 2011;pp.43–56. New York, NY: Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-9742-5_3
  7. Louv R. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, 2006. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Press.
  8. Panu P. Anxiety and the ecological crisis: an analysis of eco-anxiety and climate anxiety. Sustainability. 2020;12(19):7836. DOI: 10.3390/su12197836
  9. Berry HL, Bowen K, Kjellstrom T. Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework. Int J Public Health 2010;55(2):123–132. DOI: 10.1007/s00038-009-0112-0. Epub 2009 Dec 22. PMID: 20033251.
  10. Kaur L, Sharma P, Garg L. Causes and cure of farmer's suicide. Indian J Eco Dev. 2016;12(1a):305. DOI: 10.5958/2322-0430.2016.00081.0
  11. World Health Organization. Operational framework for building climate resilient health systems. Geneva: World Health Organization 2015. Available from https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/189951 (Accessed on 25/03/2021).
  12. Sustainable Development. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. United Nations. Available from https://sdgs.un.org/goals (Accessed on 26/03/2021).
  13. Rattani V, Venkatesh S, Pandey K, et al. India's National Action Plan on Climate Change needs desperate repair. Down to Earth. 2018 October 3; Sect. Climate Change.
  14. Ingle HE, Mikulewicz M. Mental health and climate change: tackling invisible injustice. Lancet Planet Health 2020;4(4):e128-e130. DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30081-4. PMID: 32353287.
PDF Share
PDF Share

© Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) LTD.