Managing Eco-Anxiety: Lessons From Existentialism, Grief, and ACT

What is eco-anxiety?

Eco-anxiety– also known as climate change anxiety, eco-grief, eco-distress or climate doom– is defined as distress surrounding the climate crisis and its impacts on our environment and human existence. It can show up as feelings like distress and fear in response to ecological collapse, or as intrusive thoughts around potential disaster. Confronting the climate crisis can feel overwhelming, particularly from an individual perspective. If climate predictions have ever brought up feelings of denial, defensiveness, or dread, you have experienced eco-anxiety.

Young people— who will be impacted most by climate change— have the highest rates of eco-anxiety. Studies show that up to 91% of Americans ages 16-25 are concerned about the climate crisis and almost half reported that their worry impacts them on a day to day basis. Eco-anxiety occurs globally; large-scale surveys have confirmed that people across the world at similar rates— 45%—are experiencing climate anxiety in at least one part of daily life. Like all forms of anxiety, eco-anxiety can come and go. Eco-anxiety is currently measured by two scales, the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (2021) and the Climate Crisis Anxiety Scale (2020).

The more that one is aware of the climate crisis, the more likely that they’ll experience eco-anxiety. Or, put another way, those who have experienced the impacts of climate change or work in climate science are most likely to experience feelings of climate related grief and hopelessness. That said, one doesn’t need to necessarily believe in the climate crisis to experience eco-anxiety on a subconscious level, particularly when experiencing impacts of climate disaster. Within the mental health field, nearly half of clinicians feel unprepared to discuss climate change with their clients. As we continue to experience the impacts of the climate crisis, it is essential we continue to build frameworks and support— interpersonally, community-wide and systemically— that address the impacts of climate crisis on our mental well-being.

Eco-anxiety is a form of death anxiety

It has been theorized that Western culture is a culture of death denial– much of what we do, daily, is to distract ourselves from our own mortality (Becker, The Denial of Death, 1973). Achievement, pleasure, and daily stressors allow us to focus on things we can have an impact on and/or solve. Our cultural denial of death is replicated and expanded when we face the potential of apocalypse. Eco-anxiety can be seen as an intensified version of death anxiety—in addition to the personal threat of ecological disaster, larger collapse removes the solace one may find in creating a legacy, a way of bestowing the future. Just as the reality of one’s individual death can feel unimaginable, it’s difficult to wrap our heads around– and look directly– at the impacts of climate crisis. From a wider perspective, viewing it through the lens of a culture in death denial can help us understand the often baffling responses (or lack thereof)– on individual and systemic levels– to imminent, existential threats.

Where do we go from here?

Studies show that when confronted with difficult issues, coping through avoidance, distraction, or suppressing emotions can negatively impact our physical and mental health. Conversely, when we directly face emotional and/or mental discomfort— and make decisions from this place—we tend to fare far better.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, offers many ideas that can be useful when facing eco-anxiety. ACT’s “control-agenda theory” posits an explanation as to why avoidance is so problematic. The control agenda refers to our (understandable!) attempts to avoid situations, conversations, or thoughts that feel negative. The problem with the control agenda is not only that it doesn’t reliably work, it intensifies unpleasant thoughts and feelings through what is known as the “ironic-process effect.” The more we try to avoid something– whether it be a thought or a place– the more space it takes up in our minds.

Over time we can find ourselves missing out on opportunities that would enrich our life in the name of avoiding anxiety— or, put another way, our attempts to control our anxiety end up creating more problems than the feeling of anxiety itself. Avoiding feelings of discomfort and anxiety can end up making our lives feel smaller. When we apply this towards eco-anxiety, we can see the value in working to accept and meet these feelings and realities directly.

The perspective of grief

Grief work offers valuable tools for managing eco-anxiety and the experience of eco-anxiety can have the important function of beginning the process of grief. Grief isn’t just an experience of deeply painful feelings in response to loss, it’s a process of establishing meaning. Studies show that when faced with grief, those who are able to transmute their experiences into a system of meaning are most likely to experience post-traumatic growth.

When looking at how the climate crisis is addressed in our culture— often denied, effaced or shut down as a reality— we can see how collective grief around our future, humanity, and the planet may be disenfranchised, or lacking in social acknowledgement or support. It may be difficult to make sense of the loss we are experiencing if we are not able to connect with others to understand and make sense of it. Grief work calls upon us to make sense of our grief, ideally in the presence of others. It will be increasingly important for us to collectively and structurally create opportunities for acknowledging climate crisis while in the presence of others. Until then, the following strategies can be helpful in managing eco-anxiety on an individual level.

Strategy: accept anxiety as unavoidable and stop trying to control it

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy’s method of dropping the rope” can be useful when faced with difficult circumstances. “Dropping the rope” has proven helpful for managing chronic pain, anxiety, depression and even death anxiety. This metaphor is about approaching our thoughts and feelings of anxiety from a place of surrender— letting go of the tug o’ war occurring inside of us—and letting ourselves experience them. When we “drop the rope” we allow ourselves to drop managing or fighting our anxiety through avoidance, numbing, disconnection or resistance. The idea is once we let go of the mental and emotional energy we expend on managing these uncomfortable and sometimes downright scary feelings we free up our agency and attention, which we can then redirect towards what really matters to us.

This said, acceptance isn’t always easy. Although we know that acceptance is correlated with lower levels of anxiety, depression and anticipatory grief, it can be a challenge to honestly face and integrate some circumstances in which we may find ourselves. Acceptance isn’t just a mental process where we parse what we can and can’t change— it is an emotional one as well, where we let ourselves experience the emotions that arise when we face what’s in front of us. Acceptance may mean feeling painful feelings as rage, grief, or hopelessness.

Accepting the reality of the climate crisis can be challenging and seeking support during this process, such as therapy, can be helpful. Despite the challenges of this process, once we are able to accept the climate crisis on an emotional and mental level we are able to move into a place of meaning and grounded action— we can truly respond to what is in front of us, both on an individual and collective level. Acceptance can turn managing eco-anxiety into a form of meaning-making.

Strategy: making meaning

Existentialist theory and therapy is not afraid of tackling the big questions— common topics and themes include meaning, freedom, personal choice, and death. When we view eco-anxiety through an existential lens, we see that fear of ecological collapse is not something to be viewed as simply an individual mental health issue— it is a legitimate response to a real threat. Like death, ecological collapse can evoke feelings of existential fear.

Existential therapy offers us a valuable tool for managing eco-anxiety and death acceptance. When we really comprehend and accept that our time is limited we hold the transformative potential to move into action deeply informed by our values. Nothing reveals what truly matters more than death. Studies have shown that when we spend time reflecting on our future death we tend to begin prioritizing deeply personal goals—those informed by our passion and purpose— rather than external mile markers that may signify, for example, achievement or status. Death reflection increases our appreciation of life. Put another way, when we accept the reality of death, our lives become fuller.

When it comes to concrete actions we can take when responding to climate crisis, studies show that engaging in pro-environmental behavior and connecting to nature can improve resilience and help us manage eco-anxiety. That said, this isn’t a one-size fits all approach— because eco-anxiety, like death-anxiety, asks us to define our own, deeply personal values, meaning-making actions taken need to be aligned with our core selves and are highly individual. Spiritual practices, collective action, humor and art are all ways of coping with eco-anxiety.

Strategy: mindfulness

Mindfulness is a way to create meaning without taking literal action in the moment. Recent studies show that being present with our direct experience is an essential part of meaning making— as important as our life feeling coherent, individual purpose or the sense that one matters. Mindfulness techniques can help us access engagement with and an understanding of what, already, is. In addition, practicing mindfulness can aid us in the process of moving towards acceptance and reflection. Articles and resources around cultivating mindfulness can be found through the self-help search bar on The Center For Growth’s website.

Conclusion

Many of us are impacted by eco-anxiety— truly facing the reality of climate crisis can be a deeply challenging process. Examining our cultural attitudes towards death— as well as how grief works— can offer insight into understanding why it can feel so isolating and tough. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, existentialism, grief studies and mindfulness offer valuable tools and frameworks to aid us in the process of acceptance, meaning making, and values-informed action. These approaches are not only methods of managing eco-anxiety, they contain personal and collective possibilities of new ways of engaging with climate crisis.

If you’d like support with managing eco-anxiety, therapy can help. A therapist that is familiar with this topic or that practices from an ACT, existential and/or grief-informed perspective could likely be the right fit. Call us at 215-922-5683 x 100 to speak to a clinician that can that help connect you with the right therapist or feel free to book directly on our website here.

Managing Eco-Anxiety: Lessons From Existentialism, Grief, and ACT

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