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Impact on mental health
While the physical health impacts of climate change are well known, the impact on mental health has only begun to be recognized in the last decade. According to 2011 in American Psychologist Clayton & Doherty, concluded that global climate change is bound to have substantial negative impacts on mental health and wellbeing, effects which will primarily be felt by vulnerable populations and those with pre-existing serious mental illness. Research done by Berry, Bowen, and Kjellstrom in 2008 found that climate change exposes populations to trauma, which negatively impacts mental health in very serious ways. Both the Clayton study and the Berry study identify three classes of psychological impacts from global climate change: direct, indirect, and psychosocial. The Clayton study claims that in order to appreciate these impacts on psychological wellbeing, a basic understanding of certain aspects is required. One must recognize the multiple meanings and cultural narratives associated with climate change, as well as how climate change, global phenomena like increased population, are interrelated. Climate change does not impact everyone equally; those of lower economic and social status are at greater risk and experience more devastating impacts.

Direct impacts
Direct impacts on mental health happen when a community experiences extreme weather and changed environment. Direct impacts like landscape changes, impaired place attachment, and psychological trauma are all immediate and localized problems resulting from extreme weather events and environmental changes. Extreme weather events cause negative changes to landscape and agriculture. This leads to communities facing economic aspects, especially for communities that use agriculture as a main source of income. After economic fall, communities face loss of livelihoods and poverty. Many communities will also face isolation, alienation, grief, bereavement, and displacement from these effects. Individuals will have an increased rate of anxiety and emotional stress. The rate of effects on mental health increases in already-vulnerable communities. Clayton reinforces that the more powerful the extreme weather event, and the more frequent these weather events are, the more damage is done to the mental health of the community. Some of the extreme weather events responsible for these mental health changes include wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, floods, and extreme heat.

Indirect impacts
Indirect impacts on mental health occur via impacts on physical health and community wellbeing. Physical health and mental health have a reciprocal relationship. If the physical health of an individual is negatively impacted, the decline in mental health will soon follow. These impacts are more gradual and cumulative. They are threats to emotional wellbeing through concern and uncertainty about future risks. They are also large-scale community and social effects, like conflicts related to migration and subsequent shortages or adjustment after a disaster. Extreme weather events play a major role here; their impacts can be indirect, not just direct. This is due to the effect on physical health from extreme weather events. Each extreme weather event effects humans in different ways, but they all lead to the decline of mental health. Heat indirectly causes mental health issues through physical health issues. The World Health Organization presents the fact that high extreme heat is directly related to certain ailments like cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and asthma. One piece of their evidence is that in summer 2003, during Europe’s big heat wave, there were 70,000 recorded deaths related to the heat. Heat exhaustion also occurs during extreme heat. As climate change continues, heat will continue to rise and these problems will exacerbate. These physical problems lead to mental health problems. As physical health worsens and is less curable, mental stability starts to deteriorate.

As extreme heat makes landscapes dry, nature is more prone to fire. Research shows that rising heat due to climate change has caused an increase in fires around the United States. Burns and smoke inhalation from the increasing number of fires lead to a decline in physical health, which leads to mental health problems. Deaths of family and friends cause individuals to suffer from stress and other conditions. Many suffering from loss of family and friends will internalize their emotions, feel extreme guilt and helplessness, and become paranoid. Others will develop fear of future loss and have an overall displacement of feelings that could last for years. Anderson published research in the American Psychological Association that shows the increase in murders in the United States directly correlates with the temperature increase. For every one-degree Fahrenheit, there will be nine more murders in the country, which leads to an additional 24,000 murders or assaults per year in the United States.

There is also an increased risk in suicide in communities that suffer from extreme weather events. Studies show that suicide rates increase after extreme weather events. This is evidence for the decline in mental health. The increased suicide risk has been demonstrated in Australia, where drought has resulted in crop failures and despair to the Australian countryside. After the event, farmers were left with almost nothing. They were forced to sell their belongings, reduce their stock, and borrow large sums of money to plant crops at the start of the next season. These consequences have caused a growing increase in depression, domestic violence, and suicide. More than one hundred farmers in the Australian countryside had committed suicide by 2007. An individual’s suicide often leads to mental health problems of loved ones. They face issues like those who have lost loved ones due to fire: grief, sadness, anger, paranoia, and others.

Some impacts pertaining to mental health are even more gradual and cumulative than the others, like social interaction, media, and communication. The social interaction between communities and within communities is greatly affected by migration. Communities choose to migrate, or are forced to migrate, due to stressors on limited resources. This is worsened by extreme weather events caused by climate change. Common mental health conditions associated indirectly from these extreme weather events include acute traumatic stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, complicated grief, anxiety disorders, sleep difficulties, and sexual dysfunction. Drug abuse and alcohol abuse are also common aftereffects, and can lead to both physical and mental issues, addiction and substance reliance being the most common.

The effects of Hurricane Katrina, a past extreme weather event in New Orleans, lead to a variety of mental health problems due to the destruction of resources Many people impacted by Hurricane Katrina were left homeless, disenfranchised, stressed, and suffering physical illness. This strain on the public health system decreased access and availability of medical resources. Some climate change adaptation measures may prevent the need for displacement. However, some communities may be unable to implement adaptation strategies, and this will create added stress, further exacerbating already existing mental health issues. Extreme weather events and population displacement lead to limited availability of medications, one of the primary resources required to meet psychological and physical needs of those affected by such events. Less medication and medical resources means less people can get the help they need to recover. Slowed recovery and lack of recovery worsen overall mental health.

Psychosocial impacts
Psychological impacts are the effects that heat, drought, migrations, and climate-related conflicts have on social life and community life. This includes post-disaster adjustment. Most of these effects are indirect instead of direct, but Clayton and Berry place them in a separate category because they deal with the relationships within a community. Many of the results are from how people use and occupy territory. Human migration of large communities causes discord within those communities because the already scarce resources are even more limited during migration. Agriculture and aquaculture are severely impacted by the extreme weather events of climate change, the suitability of territory being the most notable kind of change. During and after migration, the geographical distribution of populations is altered. Children and parents may be separated at these times. The early separation of kids from their parents can cause symptoms of grieving, depression, and detachment in both the young and old. The loss in resources can also lead to inter-community violence and aggression. Two groups may fight over remaining natural resources. A community may choose to migrate to find better resources, and encroach on another community’s territory, either accidentally or purposefully. Civil unrest can occur when governments fail to adequately protect communities against the extreme weather events that cause these effects. When this happens, individuals lose confidence and trust in their government. A loss in trust can be the beginning of oncoming mental health problems. The disruption of a community when they are forced to relocate results in the deterioration of geographic and social connections. This leads to grief, anxiety, and an overall sense of loss.