Climate Anxiety: Why It’s Rising and How Therapy Can Help
For many young adults, climate change isn’t an abstract future problem. It’s a constant background presence. It shows up in news alerts, social media feeds, conversations about housing, family, finances, and the future. For some, it brings a steady hum of unease. For others, it becomes overwhelming.
This emotional response is often described as climate anxiety (or eco-anxiety) and research suggests it’s both increasingly common and deeply misunderstood.
Rather than asking “How do we get rid of this anxiety?” a more helpful question may be: How do we live meaningful lives while holding realistic concerns about the future?
What Climate Anxiety Actually Is (and Isn’t)
Climate anxiety refers to persistent emotional distress related to climate change and environmental degradation, including worry, grief, anger, guilt, and helplessness (Clayton et al., 2017).
Importantly, it is not a mental disorder in itself. Many researchers emphasise that climate anxiety can be a rational response to a real and ongoing threat, especially when people feel informed but powerless (Clayton, 2020).
Psychologists often distinguish between:
Adaptive climate anxiety; concern that motivates values-based action, preparation or community engagement
Maladaptive climate anxiety; distress that becomes chronic, overwhelming or functionally impairing.
(Clayton et al., 2017).
This distinction matters. Feeling worried about climate change does not automatically mean something is “wrong” with you.
Why Younger Generations Feel It More Intensely
Research consistently shows that young adults experience climate anxiety more frequently and more intensely than older generations.
In a landmark global study of over 10,000 people aged 16-25 across ten countries:
59% reported feeling very or extremely worried about climate change
84% reported being at least moderately worried
More than 45% said these feelings negatively affected their daily functioning
(Hickman et al., 2021).
Younger people are more likely to:
Expect to live the the long-term consequences of climate change
Feel uncertainty around work, housing, family, and stability
Experience anger or betrayal toward institutions perceived as failing to act
(Hickman et al., 2021).
In the UK, worry about climate change is widespread across all ages, but younger adults report greater emotional intensity and personal impact, particularly when thinking about their future (ONS, 2022).
The Psychological Cost of Constant Exposure to Crisis
Climate anxiety doesn’t develop in isolation. It’s shaped by constant exposure to threat-based information.
Research highlights that repeated exposure to climate-related news, imagery and discourse can contribute to:
Chronic stress and rumination
Heightened vigilance and anticipatory anxiety
Sleep disruption and emotional exhaustion
(American Psychological Association, 2017; Clayotn et al., 2021).
Unlike acute stressors, climate change represents a long-term, uncertain and largely uncontrollable threat; a combination known to place significant strain on emotional regulation systems.
Over time, this can create a sense of helplessness or emotional overload, particularly when individuals feel responsible but unable to effect meaningful change.
How Anxiety Differs from Healthy Concern
A key question in both research and therapy is not whether climate anxiety exists, but when it becomes a problem.
Studies suggest the most important marker is functional impact:
Does worry interfere with sleep, concentration or relationships?
Does it lead to avoidance, numbness or hopelessness?
Does it erode the ability to plan or imagine a future?
(Hickman et al., 2021)
Healthy concern tends to:
Be proportionate and flexible
Allow space for ret and joy
Support values-aligned action
Whereas maladaptive anxiety is more likely to:
Be repetitive and ruminative
Feel paralysing rather than motivating
Narrow a person’s emotional and cognitive world
Recognising this difference allows space for compassion, without dismissing the seriousness of the issue.
Coping Without Numbing or Disengaging
One of the challenges with climate anxiety is the temptation to cope by either disengaging entirely or over-engaging to the point of burnout.
Interestingly, international research across 32 countries found that while climate anxiety was associated with lower wellbeing, it was also positively associated with pro-environmental behaviour and activism (Verplanken et al., 2020).
This suggests that action can help, but only when it is:
sustainable
values-aligned
balanced with rest and emotional processing
Coping strategies supported by research and clinical guidance include:
Limiting unfiltered exposure to crisis-driven media
Connecting with others who share values
Grounding attention in the present nervous system state
Allowing grief and fear without rushing to “fix” them
(American Psychological Association, 2017).
How Therapy Helps People Live Meaningful Lives Despite Uncertainty
Theray is not about convincing people not to care about climate change.
Instead, research and clinical practice suggest therapy can help by:
Providing space to process grief, fear, and anger
Supporting emotional regulation in the face of uncertainty
Exploring responsibility without self-punishment
Clarifying values and meaningful action
(Clayton et al., 2017, APA, 2017)
For many young adults, therapy becomes a place to ask:
How do I live well without denying reality?
What is mine to carry, and what isn’t?
How do I stay open, rather than numb or overwhelmed?
At Smart Therapy, we understand therapy as a space to hold complexity; to care deeply while also protecting mental health, identity, and hope.
Living With Climate Awareness, Not Against It
Climate anxiety does not mean you are fragile or failing.
In many cases, it reflects awareness, empathy, and values.
The task is not to eliminate concern, but to regulate, metabolise and integrate it, so it doesn’t consume the parts of life that still matter.
With the right support, it is possible to remain engaged with the world without being overwhelmed by it.
