Earth Today | Environmental woes threaten mental health
Published:Thursday | October 13, 2022 | 12:07 AM
POPULATIONS WORLDWIDE are facing mental health risks associated with varied global environmental challenges, from climate change to pollution.
“Climate change has adversely affected physical health of people globally and mental health of people. In assessed regions, some mental health challenges are associated with increasing temperatures, trauma from weather and climate extreme events, and loss of livelihoods and culture,” notes the Summary for Policymakers of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report ‘Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’.
“Mental health challenges, including anxiety and stress, are expected to increase under further global warming in all assessed regions, particularly for children, adolescents, the elderly, and those with underlying health conditions,” the report added.
To solve the problem, researchers have proposed, among other things, improved access to mental health services.
“Effective adaptation options for reducing mental health risks under climate change include improving surveillance, access to mental health care, and monitoring of psychosocial impacts from extreme weather events,” the report noted.
“Health and well-being would benefit from integrated adaptation approaches that mainstream health into food, livelihoods, social protection, infrastructure, water and sanitation policies requiring collaboration, and coordination at all scales of governance,” it added.
This recommendation has found favour with the World Health Organization (WHO), which has itself done a policy brief on the subject. The briefing document, titled Mental Health and Climate Change, notes, among other things, that climate change is increasingly having “stronger and longer lasting impacts on people, which can directly and indirectly affect their mental health and psychosocial well-being”.
“Climate change … exacerbates many social and environmental risk factors for mental health and psychosocial problems, and can lead to emotional distress, the development of new mental health conditions and a worsening situation for people already living with these conditions,” the policy brief revealed.
“Therefore, in preparing for and responding to this growing emergency, there is an increasing need for the provision of mental health and psychosocial support,” it added.
The need to urgently address the matter, is, the WHO said, not in question.
“Mental health conditions already represent a significant burden worldwide. Even without climate change, the situation for mental health globally is already challenging,” reads the WHO document.
“In many countries, large gaps exist between mental health needs and the services and systems available to address them. In fact, most people with mental disorders do not receive any care. This is particularly true in low- and middle-income countries, where fewer than 20 per cent report receiving adequate services,” it added.
At the same time, even with existing gaps in understanding the impact of climate change on mental health, the WHO insists there is sufficient knowledge on which to act.
“Not enough attention has been paid to mental health and psychosocial well-being in climate change literature, with studies on the topic emerging only since 2007. The connections between climate change and mental health and psychosocial well-being have been discussed mostly within the health frameworks of emergency and disaster management, particularly in the context of extreme weather events,” the WHO explained.
“However, knowledge on the topic is growing and strong arguments can be made for expanding this focus beyond these frameworks to recognise the role of mental health and psychosocial support within broader climate actions,” it said.