By Zoë Schlanger
November 15, 2019
Quartz
The leaders of psychological associations from more than 40 countries signed a proclamation this week at a conference on psychology and global health in Lisbon, pledging to use their expertise as psychologists to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.”
Already, psychologists have recognized that climate change is a threat to psychological health. But with this move, psychological associations from around the world are signaling a desire to actually address the problem.
The proclamation, as well as a draft resolution set to be finalized this week, expresses a commitment to “inform our respective members and the public about climate crisis,” to advocate for programs to minimize the psychological harm of climate change, advocate for “those most susceptible” to “mental health impacts of climate crisis,” and encourage policymakers to “use more psychological science” in addressing climate change.
The American Psychological Association, one of the groups whose leaders signed the document, made history in 2017 by throwing its weight behind a body of research that pointed to “eco anxiety” as a legitimate affliction. That year, the APA published a 69-page report that urged broad recognition of the connection between mental health and climate change: The changing environment is a legitimate source of distress already affecting many people, the report emphasized, and it has the potential to be psychologically destabilizing.
“To compound the issue, the psychological responses to climate change, such as conflict avoidance, fatalism, fear, helplessness, and resignation are growing,” the APA wrote at the time. “These responses are keeping us, and our nation, from properly addressing the core causes of and solutions for our changing climate, and from building and supporting psychological resiliency.”
Now, psychologists need strategies to deal with the ways climate change may be harming the mental health of their patients. Arthur Evans, the APA’s CEO, spoke to Quartz from the gathering of psychological associations in Lisbon, and said the urgency around the topic at the conference is palpable. “We have people here from the Bahamas and New Zealand and they’re talking about the disasters in their countries and the psychological impact of those.”
“And then there’s the impending impact,” Evans says. People living on islands or in low-lying areas are bracing themselves for a future where their home environments may be destroyed. “We know that that is creating anxieties in populations.”
But, Evans says, treating individuals is hardly the only way psychologists should interact with the crisis of climate change. Psychology is a broad discipline, and includes cognitive psychologists, who work to understand how people think, and behavioral psychologists, who study how to create behavioral change. Psychologists could play a role in crafting public awareness campaigns that truly speak to people and are less likely to be ignored, for example.
“Climate change has occurred because of human behavior. Psychologists are experts in human behavior. One of the things we’re assuming is that psychology needs to be part of those strategies if you’re going to be successful,” Evans says. If recent history is any guide, merely relaying the scientific facts of climate change “will not be adequate” to prompt people to change their behaviors.
“I think psychologists somewhat compartmentalize this issue. Most psychologists understand the importance of climate change, but see it more from a political standpoint,” Evans says. But that is changing. “I think increasingly psychologists are connecting [climate change] to the work that they do and the expertise they have, and how that could be helpful.”
To read the full article go to: https://qz.com/1749577/psychol...ress-climate-change/
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