As part of one study, researchers interviewed farmers in Australia and Inuit hunters and fishers. These are people who rely on the land for their survival. Upon interviewing them, researchers found they were experiences feelings of grief and stress. The main stated reasons they described for their grief were the loss of traditions and fear over losing their land and livelihoods.

Effect of Climate Grief on Vulnerable Populations

Interestingly, climate scientists, ecologists, and other similar scientists often report feeling grief as a result of their work and studies. This seems to indicate that the more closely related someone's life is with the environment, the more likely they are to experience climate grief. This holds true for other vulnerable populations as well.

Climate Grief and Scientists

For most people, depressive episodes are temporary. However, because global warming is an ever-present threat and gets worse overtime, treating depression related to climate grief can be very difficult as long as the underlying cause is still present. As a result, climate grief will likely worsen over time. In addition, climate grief can manifest itself in many different ways. To address climate grief, it will likely take a society-wide discussion of the dangers of global warming and finding ways to alleviate it.

Climate Grief Treatment Difficulties

Due to global warming, natural disasters are becoming more prevalent and affecting more people. As such, it is possible that stress-related disorders can become much more common as climate disasters continue.

Potential psychological effects of climate-related disasters

Climate change has many different effects, and as such, creates many different stressors. These include food shortages, losing homes, changing environments, loss of cultural traditions, and more. Therefore, although climate grief has common characteristics, it can vary from person to person. In addition, due to the nature of climate change, we can expect these stressors to get worse overtime.

Climate Grief Stressors

To simplify climate grief studies, researchers have identified 3 common "subtypes" of climate grief. In other words, these are the common sources of climate grief.
- Loss of ecosystems
- Lost of environmental knowledge/culture
- Anticipated future loss

3 Primary Climate Grief Types

Although not classified as a specific disorder, some researchers have begun to see that global warming is causing mental health problems for many people, especially those most affected by environmental destruction. This idea has been referred to as "climate grief." Climate grief most often manifests as some form of depression or anxiety.

Michigan State University

When a paper you read mentions a form of stress, add it here as a bullet point, then create a concept child node defining it. Also make sure to add your reference to this node.
- Emotional Stress
- Stress caused via media
- Climate Grief
- Oxidative Stress
- Covid-19 Pandemic Stress
- Time Stress
- Anticipatory Stress
- Situational Stress
- Encounter Stress
- Workplace/Academia Stress
- Gender-related Stress
- Chronic illness and Stress
- Physical stress
- Psychological stress
- Psychosocial stress
- Psycho-spiritual stress
- Generational stress/ Generational trauma

Types of Stress

A field that explores, assesses and seeks to control the harmful effects people have on their environment and inversely, the harmful impact the environment has on people. Addresses environmental issues (biodiversity, climate change) and health issues (vector-borne diseases and heat- and flood-related deaths). 

Environmental Health

This list includes disorders or conditions that are related to depressive states or features but are not currently directly or officially included in the DSM. These disorders include:
-	Climate Grief
-	Depressive Personality Disorder
-	Double Depression
-	Minor Depression
-	Postpartum Depression
-	Recurrent Brief Depression
-	Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

List of Other Recognized Depressive Disorders

Refers to the sorrow felt after a major loss, such as the death of a loved one. Severe grief can become life-threatening by weakening the immune system, leading to self-neglect, and causing suicidal thoughts.

Grief

Cunsolo, A., Ellis, N.R. (2018) Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss. Nature Clim Change 8, 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2

Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss

Climate Grief

Oxidative stress is the imbalance of the manifestation of reactive oxygen species and the body’s ability to fix resulting damage or detoxify the reactive intermediates. This imbalance causes a disturbance in the cells that leads to a toxic effect that damages all components of the cell, including proteins, lipids and DNA.

Oxidative Stress

In recent years, access to media content has dramatically increased. Although this makes information more accessible, some studies indicate that exposure to traumatic images can lead to stress-related symptoms.

Media Exposure and Stress

Although not a formal designation, workplace and/or educational settings are often large sources of stress in people's lives. Therefore, it is important we understand how these environments can impact a person's mental health to make these often hostile environments better.

Workplace/Academia Stress

Stress caused by worry about time or the lack of time one has to accomplish their obligations.

Time Stress

Stress caused by an upsetting situation one cannot control.

Situational Stress

Stress caused by anxiety surrounding seeing a specific person or group.

Encounter Stress

Stress caused by the anticipation of an event, assignment, or activity.

Anticipatory Stress

Stress caused by health concerns,  individual situations, and/or societal impacts of the Covid-19 virus. 

Covid-19 Pandemic Stress

Men and women have different stress resources and report different reactions to stress, both physically and mentally. 

Gender-related Stress

 A large percentage of people have Chronic Illness; the chronic illnesses have significant psychosocial ramifications for both the affected person and their family members. This in return creates new challenges for the field of psychology.


The Impacts of Chronic Illness

 (PTS) describes a general set of symptoms a person may suffer after enduring an intensely stressful situation. Some PTS symptoms are feeling afraid or nervous, increased heart rate, avoiding situations that remind of the traumatic incident, being distracted, having shaky hands, and having nightmares about the incident.

Posttraumatic Stress (PTS)

The feeling of psychological strain and uneasiness produced by situations of danger, threat, and loss of personal security or by internal conflicts, frustrations, loss of self-esteem, and grief. Also called emotional tension.

Emotional Stress

Interpersonal stress during adolescence affects adult mental health. During adolescence individuals form their ethnic-racial identity, pursue romantic relationships, and become more independent. Immigrants specifically may face discrimination and language barriers. 

Interpersonal Stress During Adolescence

Physical stress refers to the strain that is placed on the body as a result of physical activity or exposure to environmental factors such as extreme heat, cold, or altitude. Examples of physical stressors include exercise, manual labor, illness, injury, and exposure to environmental toxins. Physical stress can have both positive and negative effects on the body.

Physical stress

Psychological stress refers to the emotional and mental strain that individuals experience as a result of challenging or demanding situations. Psychological stress can arise from a variety of sources, such as work or school pressures, relationship problems, financial difficulties, or traumatic life events. The experience of psychological stress can trigger the body's stress response, which can have both immediate and long-term effects on physical and mental health. 

Psychological stress

Psychosocial stress refers to the stress that arises from the interaction between social and psychological factors. Psychosocial stressors can include events such as relationship problems, discrimination, or social isolation, as well as internal experiences such as low self-esteem or anxiety. Psychosocial stressors can have a profound impact on an individual's mental and physical health, as they often involve a sense of threat to one's well-being or identity. 

Psychosocial Stress

Psycho-spiritual stress refers to the stress that arises from the interaction between psychological and spiritual factors. This type of stress can be triggered by a variety of experiences, such as a crisis of faith, existential concerns, or a sense of disconnection from one's values or purpose. Psycho-spiritual stress can have a significant impact on an individual's mental and emotional well-being, as it often involves a deep questioning of one's beliefs and values.

Psychospiritual Stress

Generational stress, or generational trauma, is the psychological effects experienced by descendants of those with severe and unresolved trauma.

Generational Stress/Generational Trauma

Health psychology can offer significant insights into promoting and advancing environmental health through education and enhancement of our understanding of pro-environmental behavior. In addition, applications of health behavior change models attempt to explain pro-environmental behavior (mitigation behaviors), while integrating health and environmental psychology could expand behaviors that seek to prevent the negative effects of environmental issues on human health (adaptation behaviors). Both fields are involved in explaining mitigation & adaptation behaviors.

Health psychology's impact on environmental health

It is well known among scientists that exposure to toxic chemicals can affect physical health. In addition, more recent studies indicate that these chemicals can impact long-term mental health, especially if exposed to toxic compounds during childhood.

Mental Health and Exposure to Toxins

This includes the intersection of environmental health in other fields of studies and research. Such fields include
- Environmental Sciences
- Health Psychology


Interdisciplinary Connections to Environmental Health

- A period of depression brought on by the short days of wintertime
- Sometimes the winter depression alternates with summertime mania
- Symptoms in the wintertime include: depressed, sleepy, slow, and overeating
- In summertime, those affected by SAD experience are more energetic, active, and become thinner
- Predominantly in women and starts in early adulthood

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Postpartum depression can occur directly after childbirth due to a combination of hormones that can induce depression. 1 in 5-8 women experience postpartum depression symptoms.

Postpartum Depression

Generally speaking, depression is an overall feeling of sadness. More specifically, those with depression tend to experience several things such as: an increase or decrease in weight, troubles with concentration, feelings of meaninglessness or worthlessness, thoughts of death or suicide, and so on. 

Depression

Double depression is a term used for the co-occurrence of persistent depressive disorder and major depressive disorder. It consists of the symptoms of both disorders, along with the intensification of the feelings of hopelessness and despair.

Double Depression

Persistent depressive disorder, also known as dysthymia, is a depressive disorder identified by a long-term, chronic state of sadness.

Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia)

Prolonged grief disorder occurs when a person experiences grief that persists longer and is more intense than typical grief. The grief can become severe enough to interfere with the person's day-to-day life, often affecting work, home, friendships and other important areas of life. 

Prolonged Grief Disorder

A model by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross proposing five stages an individual may face when confronting their own death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. However, this model is not universal; not all individuals experience every stage, the order can vary, and some may not experience the negative emotions described in the model at all.

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