Any of you who have read many of the articles we at Green Westcott have written over the years, will know that we care about the planet and our impact on it. But talking about it and raising the issues we face, can have an impact on people’s mental health. Children are particularly vulnerable to this and can suffer from eco anxiety.
What is Eco Anxiety?
Eco anxiety is the overwhelming feeling of sadness and grief when confronted by the state of the planet and the reality of where it’s headed if nothing changes.
Does this sound familiar? You may have suffered from it yourself or have heard your children or grandchildren expressing their own worries about the world they be left when we’re gone.
A recent survey by Save the Children, revealed a worrying snapshot of children’s perceptions of the world. It states that 70 % of children in the UK are worried about the world they will inherit.
75% of those children surveyed want the government to take stronger action, not only on the climate crisis but also the inequality crisis. The two are intrinsically linked and the more the world deteriorates with global warming the bigger those inequalities will become.
Save the Children previously warned that today’s children are set to face seven times more heatwaves during their lives than their grandparents did and many in the UK have experienced record-breaking temperatures in recent years, attesting to the facts of the climate crisis.
Don’t they just need to ‘get a grip’?
Those of the older generation, may wonder about the ‘mental health’ of the young and conclude that many are ‘soft’ and need to ‘get a grip’. Indeed, I met a someone in the village who contended that there was “no such thing as mental health” and that “during the war, we just got on with it”.
Unfortunately, research shows that far from being, ”no such thing”, mental health issues were rife during the war, with many suffering in silence and returning from war with PTSD, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation, to say nothing of the women who had to deal with their own mental health issues and those of returning soldiers.
In fact, we can go back even further to Hippocrates (460-377 b.c.) to find early evidence of mental health disorders where Hippocrates identified depression which he described as melancholy.
Later, Galen (130-200 b.c.) described ‘pain and breathing difficulties’ in women as hysteria and attributed this to a wondering womb! The Greek word for womb is hyster.
Thank goodness research has progressed somewhat and mental health difficulties are thankfully not attributed to wandering parts of the anatomy nor are they dismissed out of hand now but are increasingly being seen as a symptom of a system or environment, which is breaking down.
What can we do when we feel overwhelmed?
So, what can we do when we are swept along by these enormous feelings which threaten to overwhelm us? How can we get some kind of perspective without denying the realities of what is happening to our planet?
Often anxiety is brought on by sensing a lack of our own capacity to change anything. Structural problems can limit the possibilities of individuals to affect change. We can recycle, reuse and repurpose all we like, we can buy electric cars, stop using single use plastic, turn the heating down, yet all the while our governments continue to invest in the very drivers of climate change that they are admonishing us to get rid of! When there is inaction by the powers that be, we are left feeling that the survival of the planet rests solely on our shoulders.
If we think of governments as being ‘parents’ and we, the people are the ‘children’ – the lack of good responsible parenting has resulted in the ‘children’ becoming overanxious about the state of our world. Meanwhile, the ‘parents’ seem hell bent on ignoring the immediate dangers and are failing to keep their ‘children’ safe. The result, understandably, is anxious and depressed children!
As ‘children’ who are now grown, we can look back at our ‘parents’ and recognise their failings and that we all have varying levels of agency and thus differentiated responsibilities.
Engaging in action to work towards change, both at a structural level and in our local communities, can be a helpful way to channel eco-anxiety. This is best when done alongside others and with time embedded for emotional support too.
If you have been affected by any of the topics raised in this article please seek help from mental health charities – Climate Psychology Alliance may be able to help you.
Nancy Lund
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