How to cope with climate anxiety: Stanford expert shares techniques that help

Britt Wray, who initially worked as a conservation biologist, was now dealing with vast amounts of research that narrated distressing tales of the climate crisis unfolding around us.

"Climate reports were coming across my desk, and often, they were filled with really difficult data. And the implications are pretty dire, depressing," she recalls.

"All of that, for me, just became this tormenting question of: do I bring another child into this situation? And it started affecting my overall well-being."

She found out she wasn't alone. A survey conducted by her team looked at the psychological impact of the climate crisis on over 10,000 youth from countries around the world, including India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Brazil, and Portugal. "We found that 39% of young people globally also have distressing thoughts and feelings about climate change that make them hesitant to have children."

Britt did end up having a child while realising the anxiety helped her act towards change. "It can be a powerful catalyst for solidarity, movement building, and action."

She defines climate anxiety as an umbrella of uncomfortable emotions that a person can feel when confronting the climate crisis. A more accurate term would be “climate distress”, but climate anxiety has become the more popular term.

"Eco anxiety is the same but for broader ecological problems. But really, we're talking about distress, anxiety, worry, terror, panic, fear."

Researchers and clinicians argue that it's not pathological to feel climate anxiety. "This is not a mental illness," Britt says.

"To feel some distress is an appropriate, even a rational response to the global threat of climate change because there are a lot of things we care about that are in harm's way."

But she stresses that its impact cannot be undermined, and offering the right support is essential.

On one end, it's been associated with panic attacks, eating disorders, sleep problems and even suicidal behaviour. But it's also led to pro-environmental behaviour and activism in many individuals. "What we are trying to do is protect the parts of it that are galvanising and positive for social and environmental change and then protect against how it can hurt people's mental health," she says.

Britt currently works as the Director of CIRCLE at Stanford Psychiatry, a research and action initiative focused on Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership and Emotional well-being in Stanford's School of Medicine.

Beyond protecting mental health, she is also focused on building the resilience of entire communities through social trust and connectedness.

Regulating emotions is key, as Britt describes.

A couple of techniques, such as mindfulness practices and intentionally spending time close to nature, can help restore attention while regulating the nervous system and reducing anxiety and depression.

Longer-term measures such as flexible thinking help keep things in perspective, while self-efficacy can also be beneficial. "Self-efficacy is an important concept that our actions can lead to real change, no matter how small, and that they matter in themselves," she says.

And then comes the idea of a growth mindset. "Being able to shift from seeing threats only as adversities to viewing them as opportunities to play, try out new things, learn and grow with other people."

Britt calls for a public health approach to the rising threat as consequences go beyond the impact on mental health. "It's domestic abuse that rises with extreme weather events, maladaptive coping measures like using too many substances, and disruptions that can impact necessities like food, shelter and work."

Adopting a preventative approach, she says, can not only help deal with mental health consequences but also provide a social protective infrastructure for people before the disasters come.

"It involves building up social capital in the places where we live. Social capital is the ability of residents to achieve shared goals and come together through combined efforts to trust each other and work across their fragmentation."

"We have seen that people with high social capital after disaster develop far less anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder than people who are more isolated, less connected, and have less social trust in their community." This becomes even more important as 1 in 4 people worldwide have reported feeling very or fairly lonely, according to a Meta-Gallup survey.

She believes adopting these solutions will be much cheaper for health systems in the long run, which will otherwise 'become so stressed by the rising distress and trauma of their populations as climate disasters get more frequent and ferocious.'

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 's Sixth Assessment Report released in 2021 said the human-caused rise in greenhouse gases has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and the risks from these extreme weather events will continue to escalate the more the planet warms.

Britt finds that psychological distress from climate impacts is already becoming more pronounced among the more vulnerable populations in the Global South, even though the term 'climate anxiety' may not have necessarily become part of the vocabulary. These populations are often dealing with much more than anxiety: ongoing trauma, grief and exhaustion.

But anxiety is still part of the picture, as compounding disasters can lead to crushing anxiety about when the next disaster might hit and how they will protect their families. But breaking it down helps identify the source of the threat and educate policymakers. "I can't tell you how many thousands of people I've talked with who say - 'Wow, I didn't know they had words to describe what I'm feeling'. But the second you get them, you can unlock some self-understanding."

"So it's really about prioritising this population and creating a platform where the global community can meet around this shared emotive landscape and work on culturally sensitive solutions in the places where people live."

Click on the video below to watch Britt Wray's interview with the World Economic Forum: