In a recent examination featured in the NPJ Mental Health Research journal, scholars undertook a comprehensive review to assess the intersection of climate change with global mental and psychosocial health. Their focus extended to the examination of distinct interventions or intervention packages designed to alleviate or counteract these effects. After scrutinizing over 5,000 potentially pertinent publications, they identified 40 studies exploring the links between mental health and climate change. From this analysis, they unearthed 37 unique intervention strategies operating across various social system levels, ranging from microsystems to macrosystems.
This review underscores the nascent nature of this area of study, with many of the interventions included not yet subjected to formal evaluation within a robust scientific framework. Nonetheless, early results from these interventions show promise, particularly in their application to low- and middle-income countries disproportionately affected by climate change. While comprehensive scaled-up clinical trials are necessary before these interventions can be recommended for public health implementation, this review provides a snapshot of scientists’ advancements in the field and lays the groundwork for further investigation into combating mental health challenges.
Understanding the Nexus: Climate Change and Mental Health
Climate change denotes observable long-term shifts in local or global temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns. While historically these changes have occurred gradually due to natural processes, the advent of the Industrial Revolution has accelerated global warming through human activities, such as fossil fuel combustion and agricultural practices, leading to unprecedented levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
Since the 1970s, scientists and clinicians have established robust connections between climate change and adverse population-level health outcomes. Starvation and heightened disease risks have soared, with chronic conditions like cancer and cardiovascular diseases witnessing a rapid surge in prevalence and severity. Recent attention has also turned to the mental health implications of climate change, especially in the wake of pandemic-related social distancing measures, highlighting the profound impact on psychological well-being.
Recent studies have revealed the detrimental effects of climate change on individuals’ mental well-being, with significant associations observed between environmental factors and psychiatric outcomes such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and increased suicide risk. While some interventions have been proposed and tested to address these adverse effects, there remains a significant gap in their adoption and subsequent evidence-based evaluation.
Findings and Implications
Out of 6,248 records initially identified, 1,122 duplicates were removed, resulting in 16 studies representing 13 unique interventions after screening. Grey literature screening uncovered an additional 24 interventions. The stressors reviewed encompassed general climate changes, stochastic weather events (such as wildfires, droughts, and floods), and natural phenomena (e.g., cyclones, typhoons). Notably, half of the publications included in this review were produced in the last three years, indicating a surge in academic interest in combating climate change’s adverse effects.
Only 56% of the included academic studies employed clinical trial-like settings with quantitative outcome metrics, revealing a substantial dearth of empirical evidence for informing policy interventions. Nevertheless, preliminary evidence suggests positive outcomes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries across various regions. Some community-wide resilience-building programs, such as the Katatagan program in the Philippines and the Skills for Life Adjustment and Resilience (SOLAR) program in Tuvalu, have shown promising results, indicating the potential for future scaled-up interventions.
While each grey literature study introduced its unique intervention, the scientific rigor of many remains unverified, as most were conducted by private firms with limited publicly available data.
