Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T21:11:48.486Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Worrying about climate change: is it responsible to promote public debate?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Helen L. Berry  and
Dominic Peel
Helen L. Berry
Affiliation:
ANU Climate Change Institute, The Australian National University, Australia Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia, email helen.berry@canberra.edu.au
Dominic Peel
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Some fear that provoking widespread worry about climate change may harm mental health. The Regional Wellbeing Survey, a large study of health, well-being and life in rural and regional Australia, examined climate change worry and attitudes. Most respondents were worried about climate change and agreed that fossil fuel use causes global warming, but there was no evidence to suggest that worry about climate change is linked to mental health in the general population. Respectful, calm, considered public debate about how to respond to climate change is unlikely to be harmful to population mental health. Individually focused clinical approaches are unlikely to be effective as a primary approach in managing the mental health impacts of climate change. Instead, collective, systems-based approaches will be needed.

Type
Thematic papers: Mental health and climate change
Information
BJPsych International , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , May 2015 , pp. 31 - 32
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2015

References

Berry, H. L. (2009) Pearl in the oyster: climate change as a mental health opportunity. Australasian Psychiatry, 17, 453–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berry, H. L., Bowen, K. & Kjellstrom, T. (2010) Climate change and mental health: a causal pathways framework. International Journal of Public Health, 52, 123–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capstick, S., Whitmarsh, L., Poortinga, W., et al (2015) International trends in public perceptions of climate change over the past quarter century. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 6, 35–61.Google Scholar
Collins, P. Y., Patel, V., Joestl, S. S., et al (2011) Grand challenges in global mental health. Nature, 475, 27–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, A., Abbas, M., Allen, A., et al (2009) Managing the health effects of climate change. Lancet, 373, 1693–1733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doherty, T. J. & Clayton, S. (2011) The psychological impacts of global climate change. American Psychologist, 66, 265–276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014) Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Barker, P. R., Colpe, L. J., et al (2003) Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 184–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maughan, D., Berry, H. L. & Davison, P. (2014) What psychiatrists should know about environmental sustainability and what they should be doing about it. International Psychiatry, 11, 27–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stefanova, K., Connor, J. & O'Halloran, T. (2014) Climate of the Nation 2014 – Australian Attitudes on Climate Change: Are Australians Climate Dinosaurs? Climate Council.Google Scholar
Swim, J., Clayton, S., Doherty, T. J., et al (2011) Psychology and global climate change: addressing a multi-faceted phenomenon and set of challenges. A report by the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Interface Between Psychology and Global Climate Change. American Psychologist, 66, 181–193.Google Scholar
Whiteford, H. A., Degenhardt, L., Rehm, J., et al (2013) Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet, 382, 1575–1586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.