Do you feel like climate change gives you anxiety? Many people would probably answer yes, on some level, but its often talked about with a level of flippancy, with expressions like, “Gen Z is the last generation.” As the Yale Climate Connections recapped one comedian, “Joel Kim Booster explains how having kids now is like inviting friends to a party that’s so over the few remaining guests are listening to a podcast.” But beyond this collective dread that we joke about the same way we joked all through COVID, there is very little talk about how climate change actually impacts our mental health. And how that might impact our ability to combat it.
Depression and a resulting “eco- paralysis” is a growing concern. “In a U.S. survey of more than 340 people published in 2018, climate concerns were associated with depressive symptoms.” (Scientific American). For anyone who has ever experienced depression of any kind, diagnosed or other, they might experience feelings of emptiness, weight, low motivation, sleepiness. We’ve all heard these symptoms listed at the bottoms of anti-depressant commercials, and as one could logically imagine, it does not lead to an increase in combatting climate change, or a rallying of collective action: “Eco paralysis is a passive state of behavioural stasis, characterised by depression, excessive anxiety, hopelessness and apathy” (pubmed). But at least from what I’ve witnessed, saying that you are anxious or depressed about climate change, would probably elicit a response like, “Aren’t we all.” A statement that could be very invalidating, and only increase this sense of inertia.
Anxiety disorders, especially OCD, also can center around climate change. According to The National Library of Medicine article in 2012 about patients with climate change related OCD, “The most frequent concerns involved electricity, water and gas wastage. Less frequent concerns included pets dying of thirst and one participant was concerned about house damage due to floors cracking, pipes leaking; roof problems and white ant activity. Compulsions included checking and rechecking pet water bowls, light switches, taps, stoves, skirting boards, pipes, roofs and wooden structures.” Despite what you might have seen on social media, intrusive thoughts, obsessions, and compulsions, are EXHAUSTING. It is in and of itself still a form of paralysis because someone has directed their very real fear towards compulsions that become increasingly nonsensical, neverending, and all consuming, rather than actual helpful actions. You have to look no farther than the environmental leaders guiding the zeitgeist to see how these conditions intersect with the movement.
When Greta Thunberg was 11, she developed a serious eating disorder. She was diagnosed with OCD at a young age. If you’ve followed any of her bright career, you might have stumbled across ignorant political pundits calling her “mentally ill,” yet only in relation to her autism. For those with limited knowledge about neurodiversity, Greta’s can absolutely be her “superpower” as she herself has said. It is the comorbid anxiety disorders that often go along with it that she speaks about giving her so much pain. Her mother describes her as “slipping into a darkness” before she found activism as a way out of this depression, paralysis, and disorder. As someone with both OCD and a neurodivergent diagnosis, I know firsthand that there is an extremely fine line between hyperfixation (an intense passion towards a specific topic that can be very pleasurable for one on the spectrum), and OCD obsession (which causes mental torture, unending compulsion, and anxiety). As the Hill states, “As is the case with her OCD diagnosis, it arguably helps her allocate her energies only toward what is most important to her: her goals for our planet and its inhabitants,” [Sam Farmer, The Hill, 2019]. This is a dangerous idea, because while autism can be harnessed for incredible creativity and intelligence, OCD should never be treated as a superpower, desirable feature, or integral part of a person’s personality, which is why Greta is the PERFECT example of how complicated it is to try to fix depression, eco-paralysis, OCD, or other disorders directed at climate change.
On the one hand, NPR’s Julia Simon says, “You don’t have to disavow these more hopeless emotions, but…you can tap into other more energizing feelings too….you can use…rage as a starting point to taking action.” This falls into the behavioral activation model of depression, which basically means using actions to eventually change your feelings. If you start engaging in more pro-environmental actions, eventually your paralysis and depression will decrease because your actions will give you confidence, satisfaction and fulfillment. HOWEVER, if you fall into the camp of people suffering from OCD, eating disorders, or various anxiety disorders, pro-environmental actions can quickly become compulsive, or a rabbit-hole of never ending rumination. In eating disorders for example, deciding to become vegan and cutting out food groups from your life could trigger a relapse.
I have no idea if Greta is still experiencing OCD symptoms around environmentalism. Or if perhaps she found a way to harness the temperament that lies underneath the disease of OCD, because after all, “when this unique temperament is nurtured and honored, there’s no stopping what heights it can take you.” She has said that activism saved her from her eating disorder, however she is vegan, which for another person, could be a way of holding onto their disorder. I air on the side of believing a smart, capable, mature woman telling her story. My point is that this approach is that everyone needs to have a different relationship with environmentalism based on their unique mental health; Some people need to engage in the actions that they can handle sustainably, rather than dedicating their whole life to the cause, because it will drive them crazy. Some people need to seek help to get involved in sustainability to pull themselves out of depression. Some people need to strategize and realize that maybe protesting is good for them, but changing their diet is dangerous for them. Because if we don’t respect our needs, we can’t truly contribute to the movement.
If you yourself felt represented in this article, NPR points out that there are now, “climate aware therapists,” who are specifically trained to treat these disorders but in relation to climate change. But of course that is still an extremely niche opportunity, and probably not particularly accessible or equitable. In the meantime, those participating in the environmental movement, nrrf to recognize the importance of finding a delicate balance between incentivizing people to get involved, while avoiding pushing an already anxious world, into a further state of paralysis, existentialism, or helplessness.