Eco-Anxiety: The Emotional Cost of the Ecological Crisis

Have you ever felt overwhelmed after reading climate news? Or guilt after thinking about your own environmental impact? Perhaps grief when hearing about disappearing ecosystems?

These emotional responses are becoming increasingly common in the context of the ecological crisis. Today, many of them are encompassed under the term eco-anxiety.

Introduction

In recent years, the term eco-anxiety has become increasingly common. Other related concepts such as climate anxiety, ecological grief and solastalgia have also emerged in public and academic discussions. These terms refer to the emotional responses that arise when people are confronted with the ecological crisis (Pihkala, 2020).

While the physical impacts of environmental issues such as climate change have long been studied, the mental health consequences received less attention until around 2007, reaching greater visibility during the 2010s (Pihkala, 2020). In 2018, the American Psychological Association (APA), in its report Mental Health and Our Changing Climate, defined eco-anxiety as “a chronic fear of environmental doom” (p.68).

Is It Eco-Anxiety What I’m Experiencing?

Eco-anxiety refers to a broad emotional response to the possibility of ecological collapse (Pihkala, 2020). In other words, it encompasses a range of emotions that emerge from knowing about or experiencing environmental degradation and climate instability. Some scholars argue that eco-anxiety should be understood as a rational response rather than a pathological one (Cosh et al., 2024).

Climate change creates deep uncertainty about the future, something strongly linked to anxiety. Research frequently associates eco-anxiety with emotions such as guilt, grief, trauma, despair and anger.

• Guilt: Feelings of personal responsibility regarding consumption habits or environmental impact are common.

• Grief: Many people experience sorrow over the loss of ecosystems, species, landscapes or imagined futures.

• Trauma: Environmental disasters can leave lasting psychological and emotional scars.

• Despair: The scale of the ecological crisis can generate feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.

• Anger: Many people feel anger toward environmental destruction and climate inaction.

Other commonly reported emotions include sadness, fear, distress and emotional overwhelm (Léger-Goodes et al., 2022). For some individuals, eco-anxiety generates feelings of helplessness and powerlessness; for others, it can encourage agency, action and hope (Pihkala, 2020).

Pihkala (2020) explains that eco-anxiety shares several characteristics with broader experiences of anxiety. Similarly, Cosh et al. (2024) suggest that eco-anxiety can, in some cases, resemble anxiety disorders.

Uncertainty and unpredictability are central elements of anxiety and are also present in relation to ecological threats and social expectations. As Pihkala (2020) explains, “uncertainty and unpredictability extend into social relations: people do not necessarily know what social norms they should follow in relation to environmental behavior” (p.11).

Eco-anxiety also resembles what scholars describe as existential anxiety. Reflecting on ecological collapse can lead people to confront questions regarding mortality, meaning and responsibility. As Pihkala (2020) states, people may experience “troubling feelings of guilt and shame, and existential questions about mortality and meaninglessness” (p.6).

At the same time, awareness of environmental issues can also generate what Pihkala (2020) calls practical anxiety. In this case, fear and concern become motivating forces that encourage behavioral change and environmental action.

According to the APA (2018), eco-anxiety is also associated with other psychological conditions such as PTSD, chronic stress, depression, substance abuse, aggression and suicidal ideation.

Furthermore, the same ecological situation can generate multiple psychological impacts simultaneously. As Nitschke explains, “mixed anxiety and depression is characterized by uncertainty about the occurrence of negative events and feelings of helplessness regarding control over those events” (cited in Pihkala, 2020, p.8).

Where Do These Feelings Come From?

The ecological crisis can affect mental health through three main pathways: direct exposure to hazardous events, indirect exposure to their consequences, and awareness of climate change itself (Cosh et al., 2024).

Chapter 7 of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) presents several studies regarding the mental health impacts of climate change. Research shows that around 20–30% of people who experience hurricanes or floods develop depression or PTSD during the months following the event. This illustrates how direct exposure to ecological disasters can significantly affect mental health.

The report also highlights that workers whose livelihoods are highly vulnerable to climate impacts often experience elevated levels of stress associated with “substance abuse and suicidal ideation” (IPCC, 2023, p.1078).

However, mental health impacts are not limited to direct exposure. Indirect consequences such as the loss of loved ones, food insecurity, economic instability or disruptions to social systems can also increase the risk of psychological distress and mental illness (IPCC, 2023).

Finally, simply being aware of environmental crises can affect mental health. Constant exposure to climate-related news and environmental content can feel emotionally overwhelming. This often generates anxiety characterized by hypervigilance, distress and emotional exhaustion (Pihkala, 2020).

Conclusion

The ecological crisis unfolding across the world is awakening emotions such as fear, grief, anger, helplessness and uncertainty. These emotional responses have increasingly been encompassed under the term eco-anxiety.

However, eco-anxiety should not necessarily be understood as an irrational or pathological reaction. In many ways, it is a deeply human response to witnessing environmental degradation, climate instability and an uncertain future. The growing prevalence of these emotions also reveals how deeply interconnected environmental issues and mental health truly are.

At the same time, eco-anxiety reflects more than individual distress; it also exposes collective tensions regarding responsibility, uncertainty and the future of life on Earth. While these emotions can become overwhelming, they can also encourage reflection, behavioral change and collective action.

Understanding eco-anxiety therefore requires moving beyond the idea that it is simply a “fear of climate change.” It is also about grief for what is being lost, uncertainty about what lies ahead, and the emotional weight of living in a world facing ecological collapse.

As environmental crises continue to intensify, conversations around mental health and climate change will likely become increasingly necessary, not only to understand emotional suffering, but also to rethink how societies respond collectively to ecological challenges.

References

American Psychological Association. (2018). Mental health and our changing climate: Impacts, implications, and guidance. American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/mental-health-climate.pdf 

Cosh, S. M., Ryan, R., Fallander, K., Robinson, K., Tognela, J., Tully, P. J., & Lykins, A. D. (2024). The relationship between climate change and mental health: A systematic review of the association between eco-anxiety, psychological distress, and symptoms of major affective disorders. BMC Psychiatry, 24, 833. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06274-1

Cissé, G., McLeman, R., Adams, H., Aldunce, P., Bowen, K., Campbell-Lendrum, D., Clayton, S., Ebi, K. L., Hess, J., Huang, C., Liu, Q., McGregor, G., Semenza, J., & Tirado, M. C. (2022). Health, wellbeing, and the changing structure of communities. En H.-O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E. S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, & B. Rama (Eds.), Climate change 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (pp. 1041–1170). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009325844.009

Léger-Goodes, T., Malboeuf-Hurtubise, C., Mastine, T., Généreux, M., Paradis, P.-O., & Camden, C. (2022). Eco-anxiety in children: A scoping review of the mental health impacts of climate change awareness. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.872544

Pihkala, P. (2020). Anxiety and the ecological crisis: An analysis of eco-anxiety and climate anxiety. Sustainability, 12(19), 7836. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197836