Eco-anxiety to agency: mental health in the age of climate change

The Mental Elf

As climate change accelerates, so does the mental distress it causes. In this episode, we interview Dr. Elizabeth Marks and Dr. Kris De Meyer to explore the critical intersection between mental health and climate change.

We discuss eco-anxiety - the difficult emotions caused by direct or indirect exposure to climate change - and consider to what extent such emotions should be considered a clinical disorder. We also explore the unequal burden of climate change across populations and how fear-based climate messaging can be unhelpful. The episode goes on to suggest strategies for addressing both climate change and mental health, such as the benefits of 'action-based storytelling’ and the potential of individual agency and collective action to confront these challenges in an uncertain and changing world.

00:00 Introduction

02:00 What is eco-anxiety?

04:54 Inequalities in impact of climate change

07:25 Media messaging around climate change

12:04 What can we do in response to climate change?

19:42 Conclusion

Dr. Elizabeth Marks

Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Bath

Deputy Director, Bath Centre for Mindfulness and Community

https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/elizabeth-marks

Dr. Kris De Meyer

Research Fellow, King’s College London Department of Neuroimaging

Visiting Lecturer, King’s College London, Department of Geography

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/kris-de-meyer

Director, University College London Climate Action Unit

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-action-unit/how-we-work

Production credits

This podcast was produced by a group of PhD students from UCL. Huge thanks from the Mental Elf to the podcast team (in alphabetical order):

Alex Martin, PhD student, University College London

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmartin111/

Annabelle Olsson, PhD student, University College London

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabelle-eveline-olsson-806b2214a/

Jasmine Lee (Presenter), PhD student, University College London

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmineleecy/

Jehanita Jesuthasan, PhD student, University College London

https://linkedin.com/in/jehanita-jesuthasan-0321851a3

Oliwia Stecko, PhD student, University College London

https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliwia-stecko

Ritika Chokhani, PhD student, University College London

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritika-chokhani

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