Eco-anxiety: Illness or symptoms with societal origins?

Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time. Awareness of its consequences is having a number of effects on mental health, including what is known as eco-anxiety. There is currently no consensual definition of this term, which covers a broad spectrum of severity ranging from simple, low-intensity symptoms to a genuine illness, akin to chronic generalized anxiety disorder but also, depending on the case, to traumatic disorders, illnesses whose criteria need tobe specified. As a result, symptoms that have a societal origin should not be medicalized right away, and the response must first and foremost be to offer places where people can be listened to and informed, and given the opportunity to get involved and take action for the environmental cause. Psychological or even psychiatric care may be required, however, if symptoms become severe and chronic, with repercussions on the person’s life. This article also briefly looks at the profiles of people most at risk of developing these symptoms, some of the central determinants of eco-anxiety, and finally the need to develop research in this area.