title: The psychological impacts of global climate change.
abstract: An appreciation of the psychological impacts of global climate change entails recognizing the complexity and multiple meanings associated with climate change; situating impacts within other social, technological, and ecological transitions; and recognizing mediators and moderators of impacts. This article describes three classes of psychological impacts: direct (e.g., acute or traumatic effects of extreme weather events and a changed environment); indirect (e.g., threats to emotional well-being based on observation of impacts and concern or uncertainty about future risks); and psychosocial (e.g., chronic social and community effects of heat, drought, migrations, and climate-related conflicts, and postdisaster adjustment). Responses include providing psychological interventions in the wake of acute impacts and reducing the vulnerabilities contributing to their severity; promoting emotional resiliency and empowerment in the context of indirect impacts; and acting at systems and policy levels to address broad psychosocial impacts. The challenge of climate change calls for increased ecological literacy, a widened ethical responsibility, investigations into a range of psychological and social adaptations, and an allocation of resources and training to improve psychologists' competency in addressing climate change-related impacts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling Psychology, Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling, Portland, OR 97208-3174, USA. thomas@selfsustain.com
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Doherty
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clayton
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D057231:Climate Change; D004190:Disasters; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans