The impacts of climate change aren't limited to changes in the environment. Researchers are beginning to learn how climate change may affect our mental health. A report from the National Wildlife Federation estimated that 200 million Americans will be subject to stress due to climate change.

To begin with, the incidences of mental and social disorders will rise steeply. These will include depressive and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse, suicides, and widespread outbreaks of violence. Children, the poor, the elderly, and those with existing mental health disorders are especially vulnerable and will be hardest hit.

These catastrophes cause great physical harm, but they also impose a less obvious toll on the human psyche. When a wildfire destroys your home or business, when a flood washes away your crops for the season or your entire neighborhood, when severe drought stresses your family?s daily life, the psychological effects can be devastating. People coping with severe weather conditions can experience serious mental health symptoms, including posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety.

The timing and distance of evacuation, the extent of destruction to your home and community, and the amount of family and community support all play a role. Research also suggests that between 25 and 50 percent of  all people exposed to an extreme weather disaster may have some adverse mental health effects, the degree of severity depending on a number of things, including the person?s age, coping capacity, and proximity to the devastation.

There are even broader implications, many of them beyond our shores. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, as climate related disasters and burdens spread across the world, the U.S. military will increasingly be called upon to help keep order. Service members will be faced with stressful, even horrifying conditions.

They will see people – the young, the old, the innocent – suffer terribly. Back home, their families will experience the ripple effects, suffering vicariously and experiencing their own disruptions in finances, relationships and child-rearing. There will be the disorders from the immediate trauma, and in some cases chronic psychological disorders will follow. 

It further emphasized that being evacuated from a likely disaster area ahead of time, if that is possible, can help reduce the mental health impacts of severe weather events. The researcher, Weems put it simply: ?The farther you evacuate, the less likely that your mental health will suffer negatively.?

REFERENCES

http://www.climateaccess.org/resource/psychological-effects-global-warming-united-states-and-why-us-mental-health-care-system-not

https://www.nwf.org/pdf/Reports/Psych_Effects_Climate_Change_Full_3_23.pdf

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/climate-change-and-mental-health.html#.V7mmvvkrI55

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidferris/2012/03/31/is-climate-change-a-mental-health-emergency/#69a179146e75

https://judithcurry.com/2012/04/13/psychological-effects-of-global-warming/6