Climate Change and Youth Mental Health

Beth Haase, M.D. is the former chair of the American Psychiatric Association Committee on Climate Change, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, and a steering committee member of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance. She is also the writer, director, and producer of the short film Frogs in a Pot, which explores the emotional and practical strengths most essential for children in a climate-changing world. Kelsey Hudson, Ph.D. chairs the Climate Psychology Alliance-North America's Youth Subcommittee. Her clinical work, research, and advocacy focuses on climate-related youth mental health. Her perspectives have been featured by NPR, USA Today, and the Boston Globe.

Part I. Conceptual Foundations of Climate Distress in Young People: 1. Climate Distress Among Young People: An Overview Susan Clayton and Tara Crandon; 2. Definitions and Conceptualizations of Climate Distress: An International Perspective Panu Pihkala; 3. Psychiatric Perspectives on Youth Climate Distress: Using the Biopsychosocio-environmental Knowledge Base to Understand and Assess for Clinical Level Symptoms Elizabeth Haase; 4. Developmental Perspectives on Understanding and Responding to Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change on Young People Francis Vergunst and Helen Berry; 5. Neuropsychiatric Perspectives on the Biology of Anxiety and Youth Climate Distress Jacob Lee and Anthony Guerrero; 6. Psychoanalytic and Relational Perspectives on Youth Climate Distress Archana Varma Caballero and Janet Lewis; 7. Understanding the Role of Trauma and Dissociation in Youth Responses to Climate Crises: Eco-Neglect as Institutional Abuse Karen Hopenwasser; 8. Cognitive Behavioral Principles for Conceptualizing Young People's Eco-emotions and Eco-distress Elizabeth Marks and Kelsey Hudson; 9. A Research Agenda for Young People's Psychological Response to Climate Change Joshua Wortzel; Part II. Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Youth Climate Distress: 10. Therapists' Perspectives: Psychotherapeutic Techniques with Applicability to Climate Distress Elizabeth Allured and Barbara Easterlin; 11. Ecological and Intersectional Approaches to Reduce Young Adults' Climate Distress: Reflections from a Work that Reconnects Program Aravinda Ananda and Margaret Babbott; 12. Pediatricians' Perspectives: Youth Climate Distress in the Pediatric Setting Samantha Ahdoot; 13. A Legal Perspective on Judicial Remedies to Respond to Young People's Climate Distress.