Eco-anxiety

Eco-anxiety is persistent fear, distress, or worry about environmental degradation and climate change. It can affect well-being without being classified as a mental disorder.

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Climate change anxiety: Distress specifically related to climate change and its actual or anticipated effects. A focused form of eco-anxiety centered on climate change.
Climate grief: Grief associated with actual or anticipated losses caused by climate change. Grief overlaps with eco-anxiety but centers on loss rather than fear.
Climate psychology: The study of psychological responses to climate change and efforts to address it. This field examines eco-anxiety alongside other responses to climate change.
Panu Pihkala: A Finnish scholar whose research examines eco-anxiety, climate emotions, and ecological crises. His work has helped develop concepts and frameworks for understanding eco-anxiety.
Climate Change Anxiety Scale: A questionnaire developed to measure cognitive-emotional and functional impairment related to climate change. It offers one research measure, while debates continue about what eco-anxiety scales capture.
Solastalgia: Distress caused by environmental change affecting a place that a person considers home. Shows how damage to familiar environments can produce place-based distress.
Ecological grief: Grief arising from experienced or anticipated losses in ecosystems, species, or landscapes. It names a distinct emotional response that may accompany environmental worry.
Climate change and mental health: The effects of climate change on mental health and psychological well-being. Eco-anxiety is one concern within the broader mental-health effects of climate change.
Caroline Hickman: A British psychotherapist and researcher studying children’s and young people’s responses to climate change. Her research documents climate-related distress among young people.
Climate change and children’s mental health: The study of how climate change and its anticipated effects influence children’s psychological well-being. Researchers are assessing how distress varies by age, exposure, and available support.