In a segment that's being widely mocked on social media, PBS brought on a climate therapist to address concerns from its progressive viewers suffering from anxiety due to climate change.
“This summer, millions of Americans are experiencing firsthand the effects of climate change,” anchor John Yang began. “Triple-digit temperatures for days on end, smoke from record-setting wildfires fouling the air, warming oceans, bleaching coral reefs."
He continued, “Psychologists say that can be a positive thing, spurring people to action. But for some people, it becomes an overwhelming sense of despair or anxiety. Psychologists call it climate anxiety. This week, we asked people about their emotional responses to climate change.”
Interviews with various individuals who claimed to be suffering from some sort of climate anxiety were then played, including from one person who said such concerns affect "daily life by the decisions I make about when I want to go someplace or where I want to go or ... how I want to travel.”
Climate psychology therapist Leslie Davenport informs viewers if they feel distress over climate change “it means you’re paying attention, you care, you’re empathetic to what’s happening to our world.”
Yang then wanted to know at what point it becomes so problematic in an individual’s life that they may need professional help.
“It can certainly grow into something that interferes with functioning in daily life keeps you awake at night, gets in the way of enjoying life, becomes really the predominant concern, high levels of physiological distress racing hearts, intrusive thoughts, it can take many, many forms,” she replied, noting that she’s seen a big increase in patients coming to talk to her about it in the last five years.
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To address these climate concerns, Davenport says she encourages people to “find their own way of becoming part of the solution” and finding a group of like-minded people to discuss it with.
"If someone thinks they have sort of almost crippling climate anxiety, how do they find someone who can help them?" Yang wondered.
"I would really recommend what's being called the climate aware therapist directory," she advised. "Since this training again is not built in yet to the mental health field, there are some therapists who have chosen to have this as a specialization."
For some people, climate change is causing an overwhelming sense of despair and anxiety.@johnyangtv speaks to climate psychology therapist Leslie Davenport for more. pic.twitter.com/0fZ9h49JLv
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) July 30, 2023
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