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Does it anguish you to think about climate change? So you suffer from eco-anxiety

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March 14, 2022 / IGLUU by igloo

It is not only feeling bad (spiritually) when contemplating the deterioration of certain landscapes due to the terrible action of the human being, it is also something more physical and painful. For years no one put a name to this mental illness, one more, with which reality hits us. Now, finally, it is taken into account: it is the ecoanxiety or climate anxiety.

The American Psychological Association defines eco-anxiety as “the chronic fear of suffering an environmental cataclysm that is produced by observing the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concern for the future of oneself and the next generations.” This fear, according to a recent publication in The Lancet on mental health and climate change, even causes “loss of appetite, insomnia and panic attacks”.

This is what happens to Priscila, a 22-year-old student who lives in Alicante and who assures that she cannot go to the beach due to the eco-anxiety generated by contemplating “how we have the seas.” She is not even capable of talking about climate change without suffering a crisis. And his is not an isolated case.

According to a study by The Lancet Planetary Health, for which 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 in ten countries were surveyed, 60% said they were very or extremely concerned. Most of them, moreover, accused their respective governments of inaction in the face of the climate crisis and of betraying young and future generations. “What causes me the most anxiety is knowing that it is not the citizens who are to blame, but the States, which do not act,” laments Priscila.

How does this mental illness affect children? What consequences does it have for people’s health? Virginia Mendoza tells us about all this in this article.

It is not only feeling bad (spiritually) when contemplating the deterioration of certain landscapes due to the terrible action of the human being, it is also something more physical and painful. For years no one put a name to this mental illness, one more, with which reality hits us. Now, finally, it is taken into account: it is the ecoanxiety or climate anxiety.

The American Psychological Association defines eco-anxiety as “the chronic fear of suffering an environmental cataclysm that is produced by observing the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concern for the future of oneself and the next generations.” This fear, according to a recent publication in The Lancet on mental health and climate change, even causes “loss of appetite, insomnia and panic attacks”.

This is what happens to Priscila, a 22-year-old student who lives in Alicante and who assures that she cannot go to the beach due to the eco-anxiety generated by contemplating “how we have the seas.” She is not even capable of talking about climate change without suffering a crisis. And his is not an isolated case.

According to a study by The Lancet Planetary Health, for which 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 in ten countries were surveyed, 60% said they were very or extremely concerned. Most of them, moreover, accused their respective governments of inaction in the face of the climate crisis and of betraying young and future generations. “What causes me the most anxiety is knowing that it is not the citizens who are to blame, but the States, which do not act,” laments Priscila.

How does this mental illness affect children? What consequences does it have for people’s health? Virginia Mendoza tells us about all this in this article.

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