Climate change and global warming, which affect the whole world, not only create resource shortages in the world, but also affect people's mental health. “Ecoanxiety”, which is a state of extreme anxiety about climate change and the environmental disasters that we may encounter as a result, has become one of the rapidly increasing types of anxiety today.
Climate change and global warming, which have become one of the most important issues of our day, have come to a level that will trigger our concerns about the future. As a result of global warming affecting people spiritually, a new type of anxiety has emerged: Ecoanxiety or eco-anxiety.
According to the definition made by the American Psychological Association; Eco anxiety is the anxiety about the future of oneself and future generations due to the fear of environmental disaster that may occur as a result of watching the inevitable impact of climate change. According to statistics; 85% of UK residents said they were worried about climate change. When we look at Turkey, 40 percent of the people are worried that the country will get worse in terms of environmental cleanliness. These rates show us that eco-anxiety is increasing globally.
HiDoctor psychologist Ayşenur Aldırmaz Taşdemir lists the symptoms of ecoanxiety as follows: When thinking about climate change and other global environmental conditions; The most obvious symptoms are feeling irritable, unable to control worrying, feeling scared, unable to stop thinking about them, and difficulty falling asleep. Pointing out that people who experience these symptoms for more than two weeks may be experiencing ecoanxiety, Taşdemir points out that being exposed to too much news and social media content about environmental disasters and future negative scenarios triggers ecoanxiety.
HiDoctor Psychologist Ayşenur Aldırmaz Taşdemir summarizes the ways to cope with ecoanxiety with five items:
Taking active action on environmental events and climate change: Anxiety about climate change can push people to take action for this situation and take part in environmental organizations. So much so that this will help alleviate this anxiety already.
Avoiding news and social media content about environmental disasters: Environmental issues and climate change are on the agenda. Too much exposure to such content through tools such as social media and television can aggravate anxiety. Try not to expose yourself to disaster scenarios.
Taking actions to reduce our carbon footprint: The most important thing we can do as individuals to counter climate change is to reduce our own carbon footprint. You can start this by avoiding using fewer airlines, personal cars, and opting for public transport or bikes. Making an individual contribution, however small, will help you cope with ecoanxiety.
Spending more time in nature: Time spent in nature will calm and soothe you.
Doing research on how to deal with environmental disasters that may happen to us: Having a deeper knowledge about climate change, which is the source of anxiety, and how to cope with it, reduces anxiety about false and false disaster scenarios from the environment. It will make you more conscious about the steps you will take on the subject.
Seeking help from a specialist if the anxiety is very severe: If the echo-anxiety is very severe and the above-mentioned items do not help, it will be the most appropriate choice to consult with a specialist psychologist.
