Mind Matters
The Links Between Climate Change and Mental Health
The effects of climate change are experienced in diverse ways by humanity. Decades of research have shown connections between climate change and mental health problems.
Though a lot has been done by different scientists to identify the connection between climate change and mental health, so far, some of these mental health problems are still unknown. This article aims to reveal the links between climate change and mental health.
Global awareness of climate change has increased, but in order to fully understand the unknown links between climate change and mental health, there is a need to ask ourselves what the term climate change really means. For clarity, if we really want to know what climate change is, we must start by understanding the meaning of the term climate. Therefore, the first question we need to ask ourselves is, 'What is climate?' Through this, we will know what we don't know about climate, which will guide us on our subject.
The term climate is defined as the average weather conditions in a particular place over many years. This means, in order to understand climate there is a need to study the weather pattern of a particular place over many years, and through that, we can tell what is the climatic condition of that place.
With that in mind, what does the term climate change mean? In simple terms 'change' is defined as a shift in something or anything, and with reference to the definition of climate, climate change can be defined as the long-term shifts in average climatic conditions of a particular place. These conditions are e.g. temperatures and precipitation.
On the other hand, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. This affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress related to others and make healthy choices. According to the WHO, there are four types of mental health which include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and psychotic disorders.
Over the last four years, we've been seeing more and more news about severe extreme weather events, water scarcity, flooding, droughts, and their severe impacts on agricultural activities and human systems. Decades of research highlight the immediate and longer-term mental health challenges caused by rising temperatures and extreme weather events, such as depression, aggression, anxiety and suicide. The connection between climate change and mental health can be displayed in different ways in relation to different climate change events as listed below:
Air pollution
Infectious Diseases
Increased Hunger
Extreme Weather Events
Poor Nutrition and
Forced Displacement.
Air Pollution and Mental Health: Climate change and increasing temperatures lead to an increase in levels of allergens and pollutants present in the air, thus worsening air quality. In turn, this increases the risk of neurological and psychiatric problems like strokes and dementia. The hidden fact is that higher levels of air pollution are linked with an increase in mental health service use among people living with psychotic or mood disorders.
Infectious Diseases and Mental Health: When it comes to the emergence of infectious diseases, climate change is considered one of the major factors. Diseases such as dengue, zika and malaria have clearly shown that reproduction, vectors and hosts, survival, abundance and distribution can be influenced by climate change events related to flooding and global heating. The impacts caused by these diseases in the community such as sudden death or accumulation of hospital bills, lead to an increase in mental health problems to individuals, families and the community at large. On the other hand, the unknown fact is that climate change directly contributes to changes in infectious disease patterns, thus exposing people to the neuropsychiatric consequences of encephalitis.
Increased Hunger and Mental Health: Due to high-temperature levels and low rainfall as a result of climate change, different parts of the globe are suffering from a lack of water and food. In turn, this leads to less agricultural resources to adapt to them. The unknown is that increased hunger contributes to extreme worry and fatigue which leads to mental health problems as people struggle to satisfy their daily needs.
Extreme Weather Events and Mental Health: Extreme weather events can cause serious impacts on some of the social and economic determinants of mental health through issues such as unemployment, lack of food, homelessness and water insecurity. The hidden fact is that, regardless of people displaying high levels of resilience in the face of extreme weather events, with escalating and more frequent extreme weather events, we all know this sort of resilience can not last in the long term, thus causing mental health problems.
Poor Nutrition and Mental Health: There is a huge amount of evidence showing changes in the nutritional content of food and supply is highly linked with climatic changes. This is visible where change in temperatures and rainfall patterns as a result of climate change, is highly affecting the level of the climatic survival conditions of some food stuffs which are rich in necessary required nutrients to humans. The unknown fact is that people usually suffer unknowingly psychologically by consuming low-nutrient foods, thus contributing to psychiatric illness.
Forced Displacement and Mental Health: In many cases of climatic events such as drought, flooding, and emergency of infectious disease, the highly affected communities are usually left with no other option than to forcefully move to other places where they will get abundant access to food, water and treatment. The unknown is that this kind of forced displacement usually exposes people to mental health problems such as stress, anxiety and depression, where they have to move from places they call home, leaving their own lands to other new places unwillingly.
Conclusion
On matters to do with climate change, there is a saying: 'We face a huge challenge but we already know many solutions'. However, these solutions are not good enough to cover both climate change and mental health problems caused by different climate change events. The sad truth is that the impacts of climate change on mental health are increasing and becoming part of our daily lives. There is very little dedicated mental health support available for people and communities dealing with climate-related hazards and long-term risks.
On the other hand, it is evident that mental health impacts of climate change are unequally distributed with certain groups disproportionately affected depending on factors such as gender, socioeconomic status and age. Many of the social determinants that are already causing massive mental health burdens are clearly seen globally. Therefore mitigation for mental health issues needs to be included as part of our response to climate change.
©Hajj Munga
Email: mungahajj@gmail.com
