From record-breaking hurricanes and wildfires to drought and intense heat, the Earth continues to experience dramatic increases in severe weather events as a result of human-inflicted damage to our climate.
These climate change–fueled disasters are causing deleterious impacts on human health, such as respiratory issues, allergic reactions, compromised fetal and child development, gastrointestinal illnesses, and chronic diseases such as cancer.
[Related: How heat affects the mind]
The effects of climate change extend to an individual’s overall well-being, a finding that psychologists continue to elevate. Here are a few recent research findings examining the effects of climate change on mental health:
- Gender-based violence: In 2022, researchers at the University of Cambridge analyzed 41 studies that explored several types of extreme weather events, such as storms, floods, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires. They found that gender-based violenceopens in new window appears to be exacerbated by extreme weather and climate events. Contributing factors include economic shock, social instability, enabling environments, and stress.
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Survivors of the 2018 Camp Fire, one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in California history, had rates of PTSD on par with war veteransopens in new window, and they were at increased risk for depression and anxiety, according to a 2021 study from the University of California–San Diego. Survivors of hurricanesopens in new window and floodsopens in new window suffer similar rates of depression and PTSD.
- Suicide: The economic impacts of droughts lead to increases in suicideopens in new window, particularly among farmers. Further, authors of a 2018 study in the journal Natureopens in new window predicted warmer temperatures could lead to as many as 40,000 additional suicides in the United States and Mexico by 2050.
- Aggression: Higher temperatures lead to more aggressive behaviors. A 2021 study published in the Journal of Public Economicsopens in new window found that violent crime in Los Angeles increased by 5.7% on days when temperatures rose above 85°F compared with cooler days.
- Anxiety: Even some Americans who have not been directly affected by a climate disaster are experiencing climate anxiety—an overwhelming sense of fear, sadness, and dread in the face of a warming planet or anxiety and worry about climate change and its effects. A 2020 APA survey found that 56% of U.S. adults said climate change is the most important issue facing the world today. Nearly half of young adults ages 18 to 34 said they felt stress over climate change in their daily lives.
[Related: How climate change is affecting our children]
