Is thinking about the climate causing too much anxiety?
While walking my dog this morning, we encountered another woman with her dog. Our dogs greeted one another, and the woman and I started talking. Since work tends to be a thing Americans talk about, I shared that I have a private therapy practice that specializes in eco- and political distress. She shared she tries not to think about such topics, specifically the climate, and instead avoids them to whatever extent she can. She’s not alone. I think many people avoid these topics because they’re scary!
Who wants to think about the fact March 2024 set a record for the 10th straight hottest month on Earth? That article was the last thing I saw before putting away my devices for the night last night. Not the most uplifting thing to see before turning to a novel before going to sleep. But, we can’t escape what’s actually happening around us in the world.
The climate crisis is scary–and talking about scary topics reduces anxiety!
I’m not going to tell you otherwise because the climate crisis is scary: it evokes fear and terror among many other emotions. And know what scary things do? Cause us worry and concern. And know what anxiety feeds on? Avoidance of scary things.
A specific cognitive model of anxiety tells us that anxiety can be seen as an equation in which anxiety is greater when we overestimate danger (the numerator, or top number, of the fraction) and when we underestimate our own ability to cope (the denominator, or bottom number, of the fraction). As such, therapists may treat anxiety by either helping clients more accurately estimate danger or helping clients better estimate (or increase) their efficacy with respect to their own coping.
Much of the time, we have tangible ways to help us realize we’re overestimating the danger of something. Here’s one of my lived examples (that likely resonates with college and graduate students as well as anyone struggling with student loan debt): while I was in graduate school for counseling, among things that made me most anxious was thinking about my student loans. I was borrowing a lot of money to become a counselor (and this was after I’d borrowed money for my undergrad education, law school, and my first masters degree). I was petrified about how much I owed and how much I’d have to pay and whether I’d ever have a job that allowed me to do that. I was so petrified that I couldn’t tell you how much I actually owed to enter that into some type of calculator to tell me a monthly payment amount that also took interest into account. My own therapist encouraged me to calculate the actual amount of debt I had and come up with a plan; this was done to both reduce my felt sense of danger and increase my coping efficacy. The amount of debt was scary when I calculated it, AND it helped me to know what that number was rather than continue to exaggerate it in my head. I came up with a plan, involving 10 years of public service, to cope with the debt.
Let’s turn back to the climate crisis. It is scary; the science isn’t good. We are going to have to adapt and change our lifestyles. We may get displaced in terms of where we live because of extreme weather events or changes to our ecosystem because of how the earth is changing. AND: when we estimate the danger, we may tend to catastrophize. Catastrophizing is assuming the worst-case scenario will occur. (Both anxiety and depression often result in folks engaging in more catastrophic thinking.) Though the climate crisis is real and does, in fact, present danger, it helps to be accurately informed of what’s happening. We can’t do that if all we do is avoid the headlines or avoid the truth. We also probably can’t accurately assess how to cope or what we can start changing now (and talking with others about what they can change now) if we don’t confront this source of anxiety. By turning our heads and remaining silent about the crisis, our own anxiety likely grows. And, in terms of estimating the danger: the planet isn’t going to collapse tomorrow or this week or even this year.
Therapy helps you handle this eco-anxiety
Having said it helps to confront the source of danger, I’m not going to tell you to do the scary thing completely on your own. That doesn’t set you up for success. Instead, there’s this other psychological concept called the window of tolerance, which is a way to think about the zone in which each person can optimally handle stress. If we go above our own window, we tend to get too aroused (think anxious or overwhelmed), dysregulated, and unable to function because we want to run away. If we go below our own window, we tend to shut down (think feel numb or apathetic) and unable to function because we freeze. You need to be within your window to function and manage your own stress. However, this window of tolerance can be stretched overtime.
A therapist can help provide you with tools and skills and internal resources to help you regulate your body while existing within your current window of tolerance. This allows your nervous system to better handle hard things that make you uncomfortable or cause you anxiety. How much you’re asked to handle or confront is informed by where your window of tolerance currently is. But as your window of tolerance increases, you can better understand a more accurate picture of the danger presented by the climate crisis. And you can more accurately assess your coping skills because building them is what has allowed your window of tolerance to increase.
As always, if you want to work with me on your own anxiety as it relates to the climate, please reach out.