Turn the Tide on Climate Anxiety

Megan Kennedy-Woodard and Dr Patrick Kennedy-Williams are founders of Climate Psychologists, which provides individual therapeutic support and wider consultation regarding the mental health implications of climate change. They have done press work with The Guardian, Time Magazine, Vogue Business, ITV, BBC Radio 4, and The Times. They also teach Guardian Masterclasses. Patrick is a clinical psychologist and enjoys getting out into nature, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (sometimes), Italian food and cycling. Megan is a coaching psychologist who loves the mountains and the sea, could eat Mexican food for every meal and believes there is no such thing as 'too many pets'. Megan and Patrick live in Oxford with their two wild and wonderful children.

CHAPTER 1: Turn the Tide on Climate Anxiety 8
Incoming Waves: The support takes shape 12
Setting sail: Our journey into climate psychology 18
In the Wake of COVID-19: The Unavoidable Parallels 23
How to get the most from this book 28
CHAPTER 2: What we know about climate anxiety (and what we don't)32
How widespread is climate anxiety? 33
Is climate anxiety a mental health condition? 35
Who does climate anxiety affect? 37
The 'direct' and 'indirect' psychological effects of climate change 37
Young people 39
Earth scientists/sustainability workers 40
Other predisposing factors? 41
Receiving climate messages 42
Facing the climate reality 43
CHAPTER 3: Navigating my responses to climate change 50
Understanding normal responses to threat50
Understanding the Fight/Flight/Freeze (FFF) response 50
Dizziness/Lightheadedness 51
Racing thoughts 52
Visual changes 52
Dry mouth 52
Breathing changes 52
Racing heart53
Sweaty palms 53
"Butterflies", cramps and stomach ache 53
Bladder urgency 54
Take the test: Am I experiencing climate anxiety? 55
Climate Change Anxiety Scale (CCAS).55
What can I do with this information? 57
CHAPTER 4: Climate Emotions 59
Climate anxiety 61
Climate Grief64
Climate Anger67
Climate Depression 68
Climate Guilt69
Positive climate emotions 71
Saying 'Thank You' to your emotions 71
CHAPTER 5: Defenses, biases and climate behavior74
The psychological defenses 74
The Five D's 75
Distance 76
Doom 77
Dissonance 78
Denial79
iDentity 79
My Five Ds 80
Cognitive biases 81
Confirmation bias 82
Status quo bias 83
The 'Thinking Trap' biases 84
Emotional Reasoning 85
"All or Nothing" Thinking 86
The Mental Filter86
Magnification and Minimization 87
Personalization 87
EXERCISE: Understanding your own Eco-Thinking Traps 88
Doomscrolling - A digital rumination 89
CHAPTER 6: Sending Signals; Communication about climate change and why it makes a difference 96
"Climate change has an image problem." 101
Community and connections 103
EXERCISE: Strengthening your climate network 106
Talking about climate change 107
Narrative: The power of stories 109
CHAPTER 7: Laying the foundations for action 116
Finding attunement116
Moving towards Mindfulness 117
Scarcity versus abundance 121
The role of self-efficacy 124
Objects of Care 127
Values 130
The Signature Strengths Survey 131
Challenging our (climate) thinking 134
Stepping stone thoughts.134
Overcoming Thinking Traps 138
STOPP Technique 140
Why self-care matters 143
Getting outside (It's only natural)149
CHAPTER 8: From anxiety to action 155
Sustainable action 155
What action should I take? 156
Impact157
Ease 159
Meaning 160
Motivating change in others 161
Harnessing the power of 'Nudge' economics 162
Are Nudges ethical? 164
Some classic 'Green Nudges'165
Nudging at the table 165
The' Follow the crowd' effect166
Nudges at work 167
The Ethical Nudge project169
The (potential) pitfalls of individual action 169
Perfect gets nothing done 170
Scheduling is self-care 172
Hitting hard-reset173
Values, goals and actions 177
Consciously scheduling 179
Signal and celebrate 183
Feeling OK to feel OK 186
S.E.T.B.A.C.K.s and how to respond to them 187
The S.E.T.B.A.C.K. steps 188
Staying well: Your blueprint (for a greener planet)190
We, together, are unstoppable 191
Endnotes and References 192