Anxiety and the Ecological Crisis: An Analysis of Eco-Anxiety and Climate Anxiety

By Pihkala Panu. Sustainability, 2020

753 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Eco-anxiety and climate anxiety are widely discussed in contemporary media and are subjects of growing research interest. However, there is a lack of research about the definitions and variations of these phenomena. This article analyzes various views of eco-anxiety from a wide range of disciplines. Insights from various anxiety theories are used to discuss empirical studies about forms of eco-anxiety. The article points out that uncertainty, unpredictability, and uncontrollability seem to be important factors in eco-anxiety. Most forms of eco-anxiety appear to be non-clinical, but cases of “pathological” eco-anxiety are also discussed. Other relevant terms and phenomena are scrutinized, such as ecological grief, solastalgia, and ecological trauma. The relationship between studies on eco-anxiety and research about ecological emotions and affect is probed. Eco-anxiety is found to be closely connected to fear and worry, but several disciplines include discussion of its character as existential anxiety. Psychosocial and sociological perspectives point out that social dynamics shape forms of eco-anxiety in profound ways. While paralyzing forms of eco-anxiety emerge as a problem, it is noted that eco-anxiety manifests itself also as “practical anxiety”, which leads to gathering of new information and reassessment of behavior options. This variety of forms of eco-anxiety should be taken into account in healthcare and public discussion.

Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9dd4e55faa0a50c14ce7b4474ed925a791be4f42

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In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

In Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

In Sociology and Political Science

Citations in the corpus

Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. (2021, neutral): “In threatening and uncertain situations such as the climate crisis, this response can be seen as what is sometimes referred to as practical anxiety 1,4 because it has the beneficial effect of leading people to reassess their behaviour in order to respond appropriately.”
Anxiety, Worry, and Grief in a Time of Environmental and Climate Crisis: A Narrative Review (2021, background): “Although existential worries are healthy reactions to perceived threats, they can be hard to cope with and potentially lead to low well-being (15, 48).”
Eco-Anxiety and Environmental Education (2020, methodology): “This “practical anxiety” [51] is regularly seen in the eco-anxiety experiences of people [3].”
Anxiety and climate change: a validation of the Climate Anxiety Scale in a German-speaking quota sample and an investigation of psychological correlates (2021, methodology): “2021; Pikhala 2020).”