A Mental Struggle

Over the past weeks, I've touched on some of the key issues that changes to the hydrological cycle as a result of climate change may cause for human physical health - a lack of  water causing illness and famine, the spread of water-borne diseases through drinking contaminated water, and the threat to health from extreme flood and drought events. However, human health extends beyond physical health issues to mental health issues. It isn't something that is talked about very much, but climate change and its resultant effects on the hydrological cycle pose a risk to mental health, a key aspect of human well-being. Dealing with problems of this scale and complexity is not easy, and this can take its toll on the human brain.

Changes in the hydrological cycle can cause changes to the environments with which people feel familiar, whether through flooding, drought, storm surges, or pollution of water resources. Humans complex brains are able to develop strong bonds between other people and the physical environmental that surrounds them - the 'sociophysical' environment. The disruption that hydrological climate change can cause to the environment so cherished by humans can cause grief, a sense of loss, and great anxiety. This has been coined 'solastalgia' - the distress caused by environmental change (Albrecht, et al. 2007). 

There are many case studies that provide examples of solastalgia. For example, Brubaker, et al. (2011) demonstrate the stress and fear that has been experienced in Alaskan villages that have become increasingly vulnerable to flooding and storm surges during the storm season, with residents reporting sleepless nights and stress during spells of bad weather. Interestingly, residents reported feeling 'safer' and 'happier' after the construction of a 1,000m long sea wall; hard engineering is often perceived by the public to be what will keep them safe from disaster. 

The Lancet Commission report on global health and climate change provides another example, suggesting that  the recent decade-long drought in Australia has caused an increase in depression, anxiety and possibly suicide rates in rural populations. Drought means the livelihoods and key sources of financial income of these rural populations are affected (crop and animal farming), causing great distress. This distress is compounded by feelings of powerlessness in the face of climate change; try putting yourself in their shoes and you can see why the drought has taken such a toll on these populations.

As climate change progresses, some local communities will have to face the task of planning and adapting to environmental change. Mentally, this is not an easy process. Coastal communities that may be suffering from erosion as a result of storm surges and rising sea levels provide an example of how mentally difficult the decision making process might be. In some coastal communities, the only solution is a managed retreat, which can cause great distress associated with place attachment - it is hard to accept that a cherished place to which you are attached may be allowed to erode away, with no attempt at defending it (Ageyman, et al. 2009). Imagine you were told that your seaside cottage will not be defended and left to fall into the sea; this has happened in the UK, and some have taken matters in their own hands and have attempted to engineer their own coastal defences, whether legally or illegally. You can see why.

An example of do it yourself coastal engineering in Suffolk - the darker band of soil is a man-made addition by the homeowner, who was taken to court. Credit: www.geographyphotos.com

Understanding these links between hydrological climate change and mental health is not easy - climate change works in the language of  numbers, and mental health works in the language of emotions. Quantitative (numeric) study of the link has been proposed through an 'Environmental Distress Scale'  (Higginbotham, et al. 2007), which 'combines dimensions of hazard perception, threat appraisal, felt impact of changes, ‘solastalgia’’ (loss of solace), and environmental action'. While this index may potentially be useful in some cases, it is hard to model some climate-mental health relations due to their inherently non quantitative nature, so we may need to develop some innovative qualitative (descriptive, non-numeric) ways of understanding the impacts of climate change on mental health. Climate change is not just about numbers and graphs when we are talking about the effects on humans. 

While I've talked about some serious issues in this post, don't have nightmares, and keep everything about hydrological climate change in perspective! We as humans have caused these changes, and it is within our grasp to mitigate, adapt, and reverse them. However, do remember that climate change is already happening, and for some is causing great mental distress. It really is important to talk about this - just as important as the physical effects of climate change on humans.