Do you suffer from eco-anxiety or solastalgia, the new illness of the century?

Do you know about solastalgia? It is perhaps the new illness of the century, which translates into a feeling of distress and sadness when seeing one’s immediate environment deteriorate permanently, due to environmental upheavals.

This is the evil of the younger generations, a whole new form of stress : eco-anxiety. And you, do you suffer from “solastalgia”?

The rise of a new form of anxiety: eco-anxiety or solastalgia

L’eco-anxietyit’s more than a fear, it’s a disorder that turns into illness. An uncontrollable anxiety. That of seeing humans destroy the Earth before our eyes.

We are all aware of global warming, of the dangers of humanity running to its doom by destroying the environment that sustains it. But this awareness, this environmental consciousness, also gives birth to a new generation suffering froma new evil, the ” solastalgie ».

Ecological anxiety

Between the web, books and documentaries in an anxiety-provoking climate, a source of stress, this anxiety spreads quickly. To the point that across the Atlantic, a new specialization in psychology is all the rage:ecopsychologyA discipline that emerged in the 1990s, based on the idea that real problems can arise from the anxiety caused by the negative action of humans on the planet.

In California, where the population lives in anticipation of the « Big One », a major earthquake, the average level of anxiety among the younger generation would be 70% higher than in the 1950s.

Fires, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, repeated droughts can cause solastalgia © Maria Madrinan

A pain to comfort

The solastalgie is actually a neologism coming from the English term « solace »which means “comfort” and of« algie » which means ” pain “. This concept was actually developed in 2007 by Glenn Albrecht, an Australian environmental philosopher, in an article Solastalgia: distress caused by change in environment.

What form can eco-anxiety take?

« Solastalgia is polymorphic: it can take many clinical forms (from insomnia to anxiety, even depression) and have varied origins according to the subjects that affect individuals“, specifies Alice Desbiolles, a public health doctor specializing in environmental health in an interview given to Mr Mondialisation, ” The solastalgie affects individuals who are aware that “there is no planet B” (..). This lack of an alternative can result in moral suffering, which is very similar to the nostalgia or melancholy that an individual feels when leaving the beloved home« (1).

A strong feeling of helplessness © Vikentiy Elizarov

Some men and women who have somehow adopted a defeatist view of this ecological anxiety go even further: since our planet is irremediably polluted, it is better not to have children!

Becoming an eco-citizen to respond to climate anxiety

How can we react differently to this solastagia? First by appreciating nature as it still is, its beauties, its pleasures. Thus, a study published by the British University of Essex, entitled “ Ecotherapy, the green agenda for mental health “, emphasizes that a simple walk in nature improves the mood and self-confidence of depressed people.

For a thirty-minute walk in the countryside or in a shopping center, 70% of real walkers felt better, compared to only 45% of shoppers.

The other good idea: act, take action! For theInternational Association for Ecotherapyl’environmental activism can help combat depression. Start by improving your own daily ecological behavior, changing your way of consuming, reducing your travel…

And if collective initiatives tempt you, move from being a worried nostalgic to an eco-citizen responsible.

article republished.