Research Digest: Mental Health Implications of Climate Change for Children and Young People

This issue of the Research Digest will focus on how climate change (or the climate emergency, as it has been declared in the UK) affects the mental health of children and young people. Although we may, or may not, see evidence of this in our consulting rooms, concerns about the future of the planet are consistently reported in the media, and exist in some form in our own lives and those of our patients. It is, unfortunately, the wider context in which our work takes place, and a reality we all share. It is therefore important that we as therapists have an awareness, and openness, to this issue, so we can be alive to it in our clinical work, should it emerge.

The review begins with two papers that look at the literature on the impact and implications of climate change for young people’s mental health, and their perceptions of this issue. Lawrance et al. describe it as a ‘risk amplifier’, arguing that its impact is ‘particularly acute for those groups already disadvantaged within and across countries’, while Clemens et al. give evidence of the direct and indirect mental health consequences of climate change. They conclude that it is ‘a serious threat to children and adolescents’ mental health’.

The following two sections of the review attempt to separately consider ways in which we may, as clinicians, encounter the effects of climate change in our work. Initially, papers that look at the thoughts and feelings of young people regarding climate change are included, with the idea that this may give a general sense of how they think about this issue. Findings from these papers are mixed, with Lee and Barnett reporting that adolescents somewhat distance themselves from the issue, tending to view others as responsible for both the problems and solutions when it comes to climate change. Lee et al. found that younger children were more concerned about climate change, and children in more developed countries generally seemed less troubled and less willing to take action. In