Addressing Mental Health in a Changing Climate: Incorporating Mental Health Indicators into Climate Change and Health Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments

Katie Hayes,Blake Poland

doi:10.3390/ijerph15091806

Abstract

A growing number of health authorities around the world are conducting climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments; however, few explore impacts and adaptations related to mental health. We argue for an expanded conceptualization of health that includes both the physiological and psychological aspects of climate change and health. Through a review of the global literature on mental health and climate change, this analytical review explores how mental health can be integrated into climate change and health vulnerability assessments and concludes with recommendations for integrating mental health within climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessments.

Highlights

It is well understood that climate change affects health; most articles addressing the topic area cite the proclamation made in the 2009 Lancet article, Managing the health effects of climate change, that “climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century” [1], where health is understood to mean physical health
We explore how mental health can be integrated into climate change and health vulnerability assessments, and we conclude with recommendations to support this integration
We provide an overview of key themes that emerged from the scoping review as they pertain to an application of climate change, mental health knowledge and evidence into CCHVAAs

Summary

Introduction

It is well understood that climate change affects health; most articles addressing the topic area cite the proclamation made in the 2009 Lancet article, Managing the health effects of climate change, that “climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century” [1], where health is understood to mean physical health. The Lancet’s Commission on Health and Climate Change warns that climate change is affecting health and these health effects will continue to grow and magnify if efforts to mitigate and adapt to these changes are not addressed globally in a collective and timely manner [5]. These climate change health effects amplify existing inequities—placing marginalized people, who generally have contributed the least to the climate change problem, at the greatest risk [5,6]. Lesser known climate change impacts on mental health include direct climate impacts, like extreme heat or extreme weather events (including floods, wildfires, hurricanes, heat waves, etc.); indirect, like the social strain and resource loss related with drought, sea-level rise, melting permafrost, or overarching impacts associated with the knowledge and awareness of climate change impacts on planetary and public health [10]

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Conclusion