Climate Change & Depression: Are They Connected?

A research study conducted at the University of Arizona, examined possible connections between depression and climate change. What intrigued me even more about this study is that researchers found three distinct types of environmental concern depending upon psychological responses to actual climate change itself. Join me to learn about the three levels of stress they discovered, who is suffering the most and what the public health implications are. It’s a serious concern that will only continue to grow as the climate heats up. We will also learn why understanding that there are differences in how people are motivated is very important for finding ways to address this, whether in the form of intervention or prevention. Much to be concerned about and much to be learned by listening to this important show.

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INSIGHTS

This research set out to connect with a population sample that represented the United States.
The results filtered out into three types of focus areas of concern – how intense are concerns and from what perspective do individuals come to those concerns? Sabrina looks at these three focus areas on this podcast.
One of the things the research looked at was the ways of coping – what strategies are people using to cope with their concerns around climate change? What strategies are you using? Join us to look closer at these components.
How many individuals, captured in this research sample, did not believe climate change was happening? Who did the researchers find did care about climate change and who did they find did not care? Join us for the deep dive into these questions!
One thing to know about this research population – all participating individuals are parents.
How can we take the results of this study and move them forward? How does having children/choosing to have a child play into concerns that one may hold about climate change? This podcast raises great questions and encourages us to seek answers through additional research.
Children being raised now have the true resources, skills and passion to make change – we are raising children differently than we did 10 years ago. Our children truly are the hope of the future.
Paying attention to mental health and the ties individuals have with concerns over climate change is essential to understanding how to motivate society towards change. We need to take action now to reverse global warming and if everyone feels that there is no hope and there is nothing we can do – we won’t get there. If we understand the perspective individuals hold in terms of their thinking about climate change and what motivates their concern, we can frame actions in a way that is passion (can do) based.
Bottom line: there is not a person on our planet that will not be affected, mentally and physically, by climate change.

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