Eco-Anxiety & Grief
The number of people experiencing eco-anxiety and environmental grief has swelled significantly in the last few years. As an expert institute in anxiety and grief and a champion of the connection between nature and mental health, the Center for Nature Informed Therapy (CNIT) has a unique perspective and the qualifications to speak to the issue.
What is Eco-Anxiety & Grief?
An increasing amount of clients, especially young people, come in with severe chronic anxiety or grief of environmental cataclysm that comes from seeing the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change.
According to dictionary.com, eco-anxiety is anxiety caused by a dread of environmental perils, especially climate change, and a feeling of helplessness over the potential consequences for those living now and even more so for those of
later generations.
The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health referred to eco-grief as the grief felt in relation to experienced or anticipated ecological losses, including the loss of species, ecosystems, and meaningful landscapes due to acute of chronic environmental change.
Eco-Anxiety and Grief Symptoms
Occasional worrying, frustration, anger, or helplessness is normal. However, if the following conditions are triggered by climate change or other environmental perils and persist, you or a loved one might be experiencing eco-grief and anxiety:
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Chronic Stress
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Anxiety
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Feeling of hopelessness, fatalism, and fear
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Depression
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Substance abuse
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Aggression
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Sleep disturbances
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No desire to have kids due to environmental concern
If you have the above symptoms and they start to impact your everyday life, your ability to work, or your relationships with others, you should talk to a mental health professional specializing in eco-anxiety and grief.
Managing Eco-Anxiety & Grief
Face the pain
When we don't run from our feelings and with courage – face the pain – hold it with compassion – they reveal the other side of the pain: aliveness and love
Get help from a mental health professional
Find a therapist or counselor, especially one with training and experience to help you manage your relationship with nature and cope with the psychological effect of climate change.
Educate yourself
Stay away from inaccurate fear stoking information. Educate yourself using the information from trustworthy credible sources.
Connect with nature
Building a strong positive relationship with nature will help you see the resiliency in our natural world.
Turn anxiety and grief into activism
Action with a purpose can help reduce feelings of anxiety and powerlessness. Those actions could include making the right decisions to live a sustainable life, being a positive role model for others, and volunteering with an organization that helps nature and/or mental health.
"I really enjoyed yesterday’s webinar with Dr. Schreiber-Pan on environmental anxiety. ... Personally, I found it both very painful and grounding to be so firmly reminded of the fundamental losses we are experiencing. I find it easy to lose that connection in a haze of numbers. It gives me hope that you and others take this seriously and are finding ways to act within this industry. I’m looking forward to similar presentations in the future."
Sherry W, participant