More Americans Say Climate Change Is Having an Impact on Mental Health Now Than in 2022, APA Survey Finds
June 18 2024 - 10:00AM
With a prediction for an above normal hurricane season this year,
wildfires causing evacuations, and tornadoes and extreme storms
regularly emerging, just more than half of adults (53%) are now
reporting that climate change is impacting Americans’ mental
health. This is up from 48% in 2022, as reported in the American
Psychiatric Association’s Healthy Minds Monthly Poll.
This month’s poll also asked how climate change was
impacting people’s lives, and two in five Americans reported
impacts on their physical and mental health. Other aspects in which
Americans were feeling climate change’s impact were access to food
(39%), personal finances (37%), their family (36%), housing (34%),
their neighborhood (25%), their job or career (26%) or their
education (24%).
“As psychiatrists, we know our mental state is not immune to
these weather changes, and we also know that certain communities
are disproportionately impacted,” said APA President Ramaswamy
Viswanathan, M.D., Dr.Med.Sc. “I would encourage those who feel
overwhelmed to remember that there is still hope in the solutions
we can adopt as individuals and on a more global scale.”
These results are from the American Psychiatric Association’s
Healthy Minds Monthly polls, fielded by Morning Consult on behalf
of APA. This year’s poll was fielded May 28-30, 2024, among 2,207
adults; the prior poll was fielded March 19-21, 2022, among a
nationally representative sample of 2,210 adults.
Black (27%) and Hispanic (26%) adults were more likely to
strongly agree that climate change was impacting mental health than
white adults (21%). The majority of respondents ages 18-34 said
climate change impacts their mental (53%) and physical health
(52%), while less than a quarter (<25%) of adults ages 65+ said
climate change is impacting any tested aspect of their life.
Finally, more than half of Americans (54%) are anxious about the
way the government is currently dealing with climate change and its
potential impact, including one fifth (21%) who say they’re very
anxious about this.
“As physicians we need to be cognizant of the impact climate
change is having on peoples’ mental state, and also its impact on
their lives,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Marketa M. Wills,
M.D., M.B.A. “Organizational leaders in health care, like the
APA, can ensure that we are taking the right steps to prepare our
workforce, and educating the public about its effects.”
To learn more about climate change’s impact on mental health,
visit the APA website. APA’s Healthy Minds Monthly tracks timely
mental health issues throughout the year, see past polls.
American Psychiatric AssociationThe American Psychiatric
Association, founded in 1844, is the oldest medical association in
the country. The APA is also the largest psychiatric association in
the world with more than 38,900 physician members specializing in
the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental
illnesses. APA’s vision is to ensure access to quality psychiatric
diagnosis and treatment. For more information, please visit
www.psychiatry.org.
Erin Connors
American Psychiatric Association
202-609-7113
econnors@psych.org