Recognizing Clinical Presentations of Anxiety and Grief in the Context of Climate Change
Understanding Eco-Anxiety and Climate Grief
Eco-anxiety refers to feelings of dread, helplessness, or existential fear about the impacts of climate change. It may manifest as:- Pre-traumatic stress syndrome: Anticipatory anxiety about future climate disasters.
- Solastalgia: A form of homesickness caused by environmental changes.
- Compounded emotional responses: Including grief, love, anger, and frustration.
Recognizing Clinical Presentations
Therapists may observe the following indicators of climate-induced anxiety and grief:- Emotional Symptoms:
- Chronic worry about future climate impacts.
- Intense sadness or dispair over environmental degradation.
- Anger or frustration with perceived inaction on climate change.
- Cognitive Responses:
- Difficulty focusing due to overwhelming concerns about the future.
- Obsessive thinking about climate solutions or catastrophes.
- Ambivalence or numbness in addressing environmental topics.
- Physical Symptoms:
- Sleep disturbances linked to climate-related stress.
- Somatic complaints such as headaches, muscle tension, or gastrointestinal issues.
- Behavioral Patterns:
- Avoidance of media or conversations about climate change (freeze response).
- Over-engagement in activism, leading to burnout (fawn response).
- Personal greenwashing or unrealistic optimism to mitigate guilt (flight response).
- Social and Relational Impact:
- Strained relationships due to conflicting climate values.
- Isolation resulting from feeling misunderstood or unsupported.
Trauma-Informed Approaches to Climate Distress
A trauma-informed framework is essential for addressing eco-anxiety and grief. Therapists can integrate the following strategies into their practice:- Validate and Normalize:
- Acknowledge the rationality of clients' emotions in response to climate realities.
- Reframe anxiety and grief as signs of empathy and care.
- Explore and Deepen Understanding:
- Use intake questions to assess the intensity and sources of distress.
- Encourage clients to articulate their narratives about climate change and its impact on their lives.
- Build Emotional Resilience:
- Teach self-regulation techniques, such as the "Butterfly Hug" or guided imagery.
- Encourage community engagement to shift focus from helplessness to empowerment.
- Integrate Internal and External Strategies:
- Foster emotional intelligence and coping mechanisms.
- Support clients in finding their sphere of influence to contribute to sustainability efforts.
- Address Systemic and Intersectional Factors:
- Recognize the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized groups.
- Incorporate discussions of eco-justice into therapy, highlighting the link between environmental and social issues.
As a therapist, you hold a vital key to helping individuals navigate the emotional complexities of a warming world. By recognizing the signs of eco-anxiety and climate grief, validating clients' experiences, and promoting adaptive coping strategies, you can support a healthier, more resilient society ready to confront the challenges of climate change.
That’s why climate psychology expert, Leslie Davenport developed this training. Leslie is the author of Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change and co-creator of the Climate Psychology Certificate Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has been featured on PBS News Hour, NPR, BBC, The New Yorker, Scientific American, The Atlantic and other major media outlets. And now you can watch her for this three-hour training as she shares the clinical practices, tools and strategies you need to help the rapidly rising number of clients struggling with climate distress in the context of climate justice.
Leslie Davenport, is a climate psychology expert and consultant who’s been featured on PBS News Hour, NPR, Scientific American, The Atlantic, and other major media outlets.
Leslie is a founding member of the Institute for Health & Healing, one of the nation’s first and largest hospital-based integrative medicine programs and co-creator of the Climate Psychology Certificate Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Her over 25 years of clinical experience culminated in the publication of the books: Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change, Healing and Transformation through Self-Guided Imagery, and Transformative Imagery: Cultivating the Imagination for Healing, Change, and Growth (Ed.). Her latest book, All the Feelings Under the Sun, published through the American Psychological Association’s children’s book division, provides tweens with tools for navigating a warming world with emotional resiliency. Next year the APA will publish her workbook for younger kids: What to Do When You’re Worried About the Earth. She also contributed to the forthcoming book The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World, University of California Press.
A frequent guest speaker on climate psychology at conferences, she serves in a climate psychology advisory role to One Resilient Earth, Climate Mental Health Network, Project InsideOut and the Integrative Healers Action Network. She has participated in interdisciplinary climate think tanks hosted by the Post Carbon Institute and Institute for Policy Studies. For more information, go to www.lesliedavenport.com.
Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Leslie Davenport maintains a private practice and has an employment relationship with California Institute of Integral Studies. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Leslie Davenport has no relevant non-financial relationships.
