ArticleBMC psychology2024
Climate change-related concerns in psychotherapy: therapists' experiences and views on addressing this topic in therapy.
Article in BMC psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association between climate change awareness-related psychological distress and mental health in people with psychiatric diagnoses or subclinical symptoms: a scoping review.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2026Article
- Conceptualizing Young People's Experiences of Climate Change Awareness: A Narrative Review.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Review
- Climate change worry and eating-related eco-concern: a network analysis of psychological and behavioral correlates in the general population.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Dealing with the climate crisis and eco-emotions in psychotherapy - a training for future medical and psychological psychotherapists using standardized patient scenarios.GMS journal for medical education · 2025Article
- Experiences of undergoing internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for climate change-related distress: a qualitative study.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Validation of the Italian version of the Eating-Related Eco-Concern Questionnaire: insights into its relationship with orthorexia nervosa.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Correlates of climate change distress: The difference to general distress.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
- Development and validation of a climate change version of the man-made disaster-related distress scale (CC-MMDS).The journal of climate change and healthArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile adverse impacts of climate change on physical health are well-known, research on its effects on mental health is still scarce. Thus, it is unclear whether potential impacts have already reached treatment practice. Our study aimed to quantify psychotherapists' experiences with patients reporting climate change-related concerns and their views on dealing with this topic in psychotherapy.
methodsIn a nationwide online survey, responses were collected from 573 psychotherapists from Germany. Therapists reported on the presence of such patients, their socio-demographic characteristics, and climate change-related reactions. Psychotherapists' views on dealing with this topic in psychotherapy were also assessed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the responses.
resultsAbout 72% (410/573) of psychotherapists indicated having had patients expressing concerns about climate change during treatment. Out of these therapists, 41% (166/410) stated that at least one patient sought treatment deliberately because of such concerns. Patients were mainly young adults with higher education. Most frequent primary diagnoses were depression, adjustment disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Psychotherapists having encountered such patients differed from those without such encounters in their views on potential functional impairment and the necessity to target the concerns in treatment. Although 79% (326/415) of all respondents felt adequately prepared by their current therapeutic skills, 50% (209/414) reported a lack of information on how to deal with such concerns in therapy.
conclusionsResults indicate that psychotherapists are frequently confronted with climate change-related concerns and regard the mental health impact of climate change on their patients as meaningful to psychotherapeutic care. Regular care could be improved by a continuous refinement of the conceptualization and knowledge of the mental health influences of climate change. This would allow providing tailored methods of assessing and addressing climate change-related concerns in practice.
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