If you experience existential dread, depression, or anxiety whenever you hear reports of a natural disaster, higher temperatures, extreme weather, or other climate change issue that make you overwhelmingly worried and fearful so much that it affects your daily life and relationship with people, then you might be having eco-anxiety. If these fears make it difficult for you to sleep or give you panic attacks from knowing that your action or inaction could greatly affect your environment, and you feel helpless, that could be an indicator of eco-anxiety. Recently, there has been an increased report of the threat of climate change on the environment, with women showing more concern for this than men.
What is Eco-anxiety?
According to the American Psychological Association, eco-anxiety is defined as “a chronic fear of environmental doom.” Eco-anxiety is a normal rational fear that may be related to a person’s experience of a natural disaster such as a flood, an earthquake, or a wildfire. Such a person can be permanently fearful of a similar event occurring. Although eco-anxiety is not recognized as a medical condition, it shares many similarities with general anxiety which is a medical condition.
A 2021 survey led by Bath University, with responses from 10,000 people between the age of 16-25, found that about 60% of young people interviewed said they were worried about climate change, with two-thirds reported being fearful or/and anxious about climate change.
How do I know I have Eco-anxiety?
Recognizing symptoms of eco-anxiety and taking the right steps to improve them is important to yourself and your environment also. The following are some of the common ways to know if you have eco-anxiety and how best to cope with it.
- You feel guilty for not doing enough to protect the environment. With the increase in ecological disasters globally, it is not uncommon for one to feel helpless and guilty for not doing enough to protect the environment and this can make you anxious. Instead of focusing on what you can’t do, try thinking of things you can do that can positively impact your environment instead. “It’s true that individual acts alone can’t cure what ails the planet. But each one of us can find ways to contribute to the solutions—in our homes, our neighbourhoods, and the wider world,” says Patricia Edmonds, Executive Editor, Short Form Editorial, National Geographic Magazine.
- You find yourself agonizing about (terrible) things that might happen in the future.
After experiencing a climate change event, or reading about one in the media and online, without knowing when the next one would occur, you may likely develop a form of anxiety for events that are yet to occur known as anticipatory anxiety. According to Hailey Shafir, a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counsellor and Supervisor based in Raleigh, NC, “anticipatory anxiety is heightened anxiety and apprehension in anticipation of something bad that could happen in the future.”
You may find yourself mentally imagining possible worst outcomes of an event that is highly unlikely to occur. One way to cope with this anxiety is to reconnect with nature. Spending time in nature has been shown by research to help improve anxiety.
- You doomsurf a lot.
with the rise in climate change tragedies around the world, you may feel compelled to constantly surf the internet for news of climate change tragedies and other related grim predictions concerning the environment. Doomsurfing or doomscrolling is the act of spending too much time absorbing negative news online.
An Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre’s psychiatrist, Ken Yeager (Ph.D.) in an interview with Health opined, “People are drawn to doomscrolling because they feel like they have a sense of being able to control any of that bad news, but doomscrolling does not create control and only makes you miserable.”
“Some news sites are just sensational and want to shock or scare you, so avoid those outlets and focus on places where you know you’ll get honest, accurate information. Limit your intake. You can stay informed by watching one show or even reading a summary of the news of the day,” says psychotherapist and coach Tess Brigham.
- Existential dread.
Sometimes you might feel like you’re not doing enough to save the planet, therefore you shy away from actions that can help save the planet entirely because your efforts to help seem to have little or no impact. However, this inaction makes it even worse for the planet.
It is important to understand that we are not alone in our effort to help save the planet. By collaborating with other eco-conscious individuals or organizations like SustyVibes, The Nature Conservancy, and International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI), through volunteering or donating to them, you can find some comfort in knowing that even if you can’t save the planet alone there are other people who care as much as you do about the environment.
Final thoughts
Identifying eco-anxiety is an important step in helping people with this kind of anxiety. If you find out that the anxiety that stems from your concern for the environment is affecting your mental health and relationship with people, it is best to seek professional assistance. Do not try to suppress or deny what you’re feeling. Join communities that care about the environment as much as you do, take action, spend time in nature, etc. As much as it is important to care for our environment let’s not forget to take care of our mental health too.
Written by Michael Okafor