Global climate change and mental health

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.023Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Poor mental health is associated with three different forms of climate-related events.

  • Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress are the most common impacts.

  • Impacts represent both direct and indirect consequences of global climate change.

  • Children and residents of low and middle-income countries are especially vulnerable.

  • Understanding impact scope and scale is critical for prevention and treatment.

Although several empirical studies and systematic reviews have documented the mental health impacts of global climate change, the range of impacts has not been well understood. This review examines mental health impacts of three types of climate-related events: (1) acute events such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires; (2) subacute or long-term changes such as drought and heat stress; and (3) the existential threat of long-lasting changes, including higher temperatures, rising sea levels and a permanently altered and potentially uninhabitable physical environment. The impacts represent both direct (i.e. heat stress) and indirect (i.e. economic loss, threats to health and well-being, displacement and forced migration, collective violence and civil conflict, and alienation from a degraded environment) consequences of global climate change.

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