Healthcare must count costs of climate-driven mental illness and eco distress

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Extreme weather events are linked with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, and extreme distress. Photo: Pexels

 

(Justine Alford, Simon Levey/ Imperial College News) — Suicides, heatwave deaths for mentally ill, increased care needs and eco-anxiety among the uncounted costs of climate change, says a new expert report. Climate change and mental health are two of the most significant and pressing challenges facing societies across the world.

While the climate crisis is increasingly recognised as a health emergency, the interplay between climate change, mental health and emotional wellbeing has been relatively neglected.

Now, a new report by Imperial College London experts presents substantial evidence that climate change has a detrimental and multi-faceted impact on mental health, with significant costs to individuals, health systems and economies that are currently unaccounted for in policy and practice. (…)

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