“No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate

change” - Barrack Obama

Climate is changing towards being an extremist. It has crossed the barrier from a sudden rise or fall in temperature. It has become more devastating and showing extreme changes. Global warming and ozone depletion have been subjected to debates and agendas. But climate change is now being reflected in furious floods across the globe and especially affecting countries like India and Pakistan. Natural calamities like landslides, drought, forest fire, etc. are nothing else but the manifestation of climate change.

It is not only affecting the environment and surroundings but it has started to take a toll on the human psyche. All these natural disasters cause destruction to livelihood by destroying crops, households, etc. It not only affects physical health but is quite challenging for mental health.

The intensity of the damage caused by climate change determines its effects on the mental health of the people. Along with the catastrophic experience, it has nowadays become an issue for anxiety which is characterized by having episodes of panic attacks following the stress for climate change. The people are getting worried about their kids’ future and the eligible couple is now hesitant in having kids. Their biggest concern is
where will their children be born and will they be able to survive. This is coined as “eco-anxiety”. This is transforming into the spine-chilling existential crisis.

The scientific literature search suggests that various work and papers published after the 1980s have reflected the co-existence of climate change and its adverse effects on global health.

According to a report by the American Public Health Association (APHA)
the victims of natural calamities are likely to develop symptoms of

psychological distress and morbidities like anxiety disorder, depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and even suicides.

• Adverse mental effects are likely to be found in 25-50% of the population
• Depression targets approximately 54% grownups and 45% children.
• Hurricane Katrina brought psychological scars to almost 49% of the survivors. They suffered from anxiety or mood disorder with a forwarding shift in suicidal tendencies.

The group of people like children, pregnant women, individuals with pre-existing mental illness, and the ones who suffer economically disadvantaged fall in the category of higher risk for getting psychological distress. Many climate change researchers emphasized the environmental and human dimensions of the concept but focus on the psychological aspects is questionable.

The need for the hour is not only to develop skills for disaster management but also to make people become resilient and build their capacity to face the catastrophe and enhance their coping mechanism to deal with trauma and uncertainty of the future.

We need to think out of the box and come up with ideas and innovations to fight climate change and its effects on mental well-being. The prevention tool for the same needs to be the major focus. It can be a capsule regarding training to manage disasters as well as relaxation therapies like yoga and meditation can also be applied.