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“December is almost over, and it hasn’t rained in Haifa for weeks. It’s as hot as August, and there’s no sign of a cloud on the horizon. I can’t sleep, eat, or stop thinking about it - I can foresee the droughts and the shoreline’s flooding. I don’t believe we can repair the damage we’ve done to the planet.” This is how E., a 26-year-old patient of mine, started one of our sessions, which aimed at helping him cope with his ecological anxiety.
Eco-anxiety is anxiety about climate change issues and the planet’s fate to the extent that it impairs daily functioning. Though yet to be defined by the DSM, the APA and ecoAmerica already depicted “eco-anxiety” as “a chronic fear of environmental doom” (APA and ecoAmerica, p. 29, Clayton et al., 2017). Prevalent among younger populations, it is extensive: a survey conducted by the APA found that nearly half (48%) of young adults said they felt stress over climate change in their daily lives.
The more common symptoms are emotional stress, fear, anger, difficulty sleeping, diminished appetite, problem concentrating and obsessive thinking. Many develop substance dependencies. Symptoms are triggered whenever the person confronts eco-related
information in the press, social networks, or others who do not acknowledge their footprint or take steps to prevent damage. To avoid the latter, eco-anxious people often isolate themselves and avoid any interaction with those who can exacerbate their distress.
E. tried to get help in the past, but time and again, he felt that not only did the therapist fail to understand his distress truly, but the therapist and his lifestyle were actively contributing to and increasing it. “How can I feel safe and understood by a person who personally inflicts damage on the environment daily and does not acknowledge or take responsibility for it?” E. would check his therapists’ waiting rooms for disposal cups or recycling bins, but what mattered most was whether his therapist was vegan or predisposed to be.