Treating Climate Distress; Potential Interventions and the Need for Evidence-Based Approaches

ABSTRACT : Climate change causes physical and mental health issues, whether from direct exposure to a natural disaster or a general sense of hopelessness and distress about the future. As climate change becomes harder to ignore through overwhelming evidence, personal experiences, and cultural acceptance, more people are feeling negative emotions related to climate change. These emotions often include feelings of anxiety, despair, fear and grief (Williams and Samuel, 2023). This problem continues to grow in both severity and occurrence. Though some mental health treatments have been adapted to address it, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and art therapy, there is a shortage of clinical resources to target this emerging psychological pathology. The importance of communal spaces in treating climate distress is analyzed by the authors from both historical and modern perspectives. Research regarding positive outcomes through community spaces for groups processing challenging climate emotions is presented. The authors investigate the effectiveness of natural spaces and dream analysis in treating climate distress and ecological grief. Although limited approaches have been adapted to treat the growing problem of climate distress, new therapies and community spaces should be further developed and researched in order to broaden effective coping methods for those impacted.