Climate crisis between emotional and social consequences: a focus on clinical-community implications.

Published 2025-03-14
Keywords
- Climate change,
- Psychoterratic states,
- Ecopsychology,
- Ecoanxiety,
- Community resilience
- Personality traits,
- Big five factors ...More
How to Cite
Copyright (c) 2025 Mariarosaria Bifulco, Ottavio Ragozzino

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The Industrial Revolution has brought about profound changes in individuals' lifestyles and consumption habits, which have contributed to the most significant challenge facing humanity: climate change. This manifests through environmental crises and natural disasters, threatening both the physical and mental health of individuals. Emotional responses to this newfound awareness, identified as “psychoterratic states”, stem from eco-existentialism and necessitate thorough analysis and practical solutions. This new range of specific emotions has come under the scrutiny of environmental psychology, which is dedicated to researching coping strategies, resilience, and reconnection with nature. This article explores the clinical and social implications of such emotional responses, providing insights into context-specific neologisms and 'classic' clinical conditions, which should be interpreted within a particular life context. These discussions are followed by perspectives on targeted therapeutic interventions and community-based support.
References
- Proceedings of the World Climate Conference: A Conference of Experts on Climate and Mankind, Geneva, 12-23 February 1979. (1979). Russia: Secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization.
- Revkin, A. C. (1992). Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast. Stati Uniti: Abbeville Press, Incorporated.
- Innocenti, M. (2022). Ecoansia: I cambiamenti climatici tra attivismo e paura. Italia: Edizioni Centro Studi Erickson.
- Clayton S., Manning C. M., Speiser M., & Hill A. N. (2021). «Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Inequities, Responses». Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica.
- Biondi, M. (2014). DSM-5. Manuale diagnostico e statistico dei disturbi mentali. Italia: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
- Weintrobe, S. (2021). Psychological Roots of the Climate Crisis: Neoliberal Exceptionalism and the Culture of Uncare. Regno Unito: Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Albrecht, G. (2019). Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World. Regno Unito: Cornell University Press.
- Searles, H. F. (1960). L’ambiente non umano nello sviluppo normale e nella schizofrenia. Trad. it. Di Mario Marchetti. Torino: Einaudi, 2004.
- Raoufzadeh, N., Eslamieh, R., Lak, M. (2024). Eco-psicoterapia per la rivitalizzazione della psiche: lettura ecopsicologica di Salvage the Bones di Jesmyn Ward. Studi interdisciplinari di letteratura, arte e discipline umanistiche, 4 (1), 179-198.
- Hibbard, W. (2003). Ecopsychology: A Review. The Trumpeter, 19(2).
- Lertzman, R. (2008). The Myth of Apathy. The Ecologist. https://theecologist.org/2008/jun/19/myth-apathy.
- Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton S., Lewandowski, R.E., Mayall, EE., Wray, B., Mellor, C., van Susteren L. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: a global survey. Lancet Planet Health, 2021, 5, e863-e873. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3.
- Lee, E., & Lee, H. (2019). Disaster awareness and coping: Impact on stress, anxiety, and depression. Perspectives in psychiatric care, 55(2), 311-318.
- Innocenti, M., Santarelli, G., Lombardi, G. S., Ciabini, L., Zjalic, D., Di Russo, M., & Cadeddu, C. (2023). How can climate change anxiety induce both pro-environmental behaviours and eco-paralysis? The mediating role of general self-efficacy. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3085.
- Balmumcu, A., & Pekince, G. D. (2023). Effects of forest bath (Shinrin-Yoku) and forest therapy (Shinrin-Ryoho) on women's health. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 15(1), 62–69.
- Clayton, S., Manning, C. M., Krygsman, K., & Speiser, M. (2017). Mental Health and Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications, and Guidance. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, and ecoAmerica.
- American Psychological Association, APA Task Force on Climate Change. (2022) Addressing the Climate Crisis: An Action Plan for Psychologists, Report of the APA Task Force on Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/science/about/publications/climate-crisis-action-plan.pdf.
- Granieri, A. (2016). La comunità contaminata di Casale Monferrato: aspetti corruttivi della governance e sopravvivenza psichica. In L. Ambrosiano & M. Sarno (a cura di). Corruttori e corrotti. Ipotesi psicoanalitiche. Milano: Mimesis.
- Goldberg, L. R. (2013). An alternative “description of personality”: The Big-Five factor structure. In Personality and Personality Disorders (pp. 34-47). Routledge.
- De Raad, B. (2000). The big five personality factors: the psycholexical approach to personality. Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.
- Milfont, T. L., Milojev, P., Greaves, L. M., & Sibley, C. G. (2015). Socio-structural and psychological foundations of climate change beliefs. New Zealand Journal of Psychology (Online), 44(1), 17.