Climate anxiety: How therapy helped me and how it can help you

In a world increasingly affected by environmental change, the term "climate anxiety" has become more common. You might have heard of it, or perhaps you’ve felt it yourself—a sense of dread, helplessness, or overwhelming fear about the future of our planet. For some, these feelings go beyond concern; they can develop into eco-anxiety, a condition that feels all too real for those who experience it deeply.

As both a therapist and someone who has walked this path, I want to share my journey of dealing with climate anxiety and offer some insights into how therapy can help you manage these feelings.

What is climate anxiety?

Climate anxiety, or eco-anxiety, is not yet recognised as a formal mental health disorder, but it has become an increasing concern for many people around the globe. It's defined as the chronic fear of environmental doom. It often manifests as distress or existential worry about the future, with feelings of uncertainty and helplessness about the effects of climate change. If you're worried about the future, rising temperatures, melting ice caps, or loss of biodiversity, you’re not alone.

I experienced this personally. It started as a creeping unease when I saw stories in the media about natural disasters, wildfires, and species extinction. What began as a vague worry turned into sleepless nights, where I questioned my future, my children’s future, and whether the world I knew would still be here for the next generation. This sense of dread, this existential anxiety, began affecting my life in subtle but painful ways.

The root of existential anxiety

There’s something uniquely unsettling about climate anxiety because it taps into deeper, more existential concerns. What will happen to us? How do we cope with the uncertainty of the world we live in? These are existential questions that can leave us feeling powerless. The climate crisis has revealed the fragility of life on Earth, shaking the foundation of our sense of security.

For many people, this existential worry feels personal—especially those who feel deeply connected to nature or who work in industries focused on sustainability. The sense that we are not in control, that our efforts might not be enough to change the course of history, can lead to feelings of hopelessness. This is where eco-anxiety can evolve into a more serious mental health challenge, affecting daily life and our ability to enjoy the present.

For me, it wasn’t just about the planet; it was about how the future felt uncertain, like the rug was being pulled out from under my feet. I wondered if my children would grow up in a world drastically different from the one I know. This brought up a host of other emotions—guilt, sadness, and a deep sense of loss.

The role of therapy

I turned to therapy for help when I realised that my climate anxiety was taking over my thoughts. What I found in therapy, was not a solution to climate change (unfortunately, therapy can’t stop ice caps from melting), but it gave me tools to manage my emotional response to these enormous, overwhelming issues. Therapy taught me how to live with uncertainty, rather than be consumed by it.

Therapy provided a space for me to process these difficult emotions. I learnt that my guilt and sadness were valid and that it’s okay to grieve for the changes we’re seeing in the world. Grief, after all, is a natural human response to loss—and what we're collectively facing is a kind of loss. For many, that loss is of the stable, predictable world we once knew.

But in that grief, therapy also helped me find resilience. It reminded me of the importance of staying grounded in the present moment and that while we can’t control the future, we can control how we react to the present. This shift in focus from the overwhelming "what ifs" of the future to "what can I do today?" became a crucial part of my healing.

How therapy helps manage climate anxiety

If you're feeling overwhelmed by eco-anxiety, here are some ways therapy might help:

1. Creating a safe space to talk

Talking about your fears and worries in therapy can help you process those feelings. Often, just verbalising what’s in your heart is a relief. When I started talking to my therapist about my eco-anxiety, it was like opening a floodgate. I hadn’t realised how much I had been holding inside. Therapy offered me the safe space I needed to unravel those feelings without fear of judgement.

2. Managing existential worry

Therapy offers tools to manage the overwhelming, existential questions about the future. Cognitive-behavioural techniques, mindfulness, and grounding exercises can help reduce the constant worry that may be stealing your joy in the present. My therapist helped me reframe my thoughts, so instead of being consumed by dread about the future, I focused more on what actions I could take in the present, like making more sustainable choices in my daily life.

3. Empowering yourself through action

One of the most empowering aspects of my therapy was learning that I didn’t have to sit with my anxiety passively. There are small, manageable steps we can take to reduce our environmental impact—whether volunteering for a local cause, changing our consumption habits, or raising awareness about the issue. These actions helped me feel like I was contributing, rather than just feeling helpless.

4. Finding community

Therapy also helped me realise that I wasn’t alone. Many others share this anxiety, and connecting with like-minded people helped me feel part of a community rather than isolated in my fears. Discussing climate change with others who understand the gravity of the issue made me feel less burdened by my emotions.

How you can cope with climate anxiety

If you're struggling with climate anxiety, here are a few strategies that have helped me:

• Acknowledge your feelings: It’s okay to feel sad, angry, or anxious about the state of the world. Allow yourself to grieve.
• Take small steps: Focus on the small, actionable steps you can take to reduce your environmental impact. Doing something tangible can reduce feelings of helplessness.
• Limit media consumption: While it's important to stay informed, constant exposure to distressing news can heighten anxiety. Set limits on how much time you spend reading or watching news about climate change.
• Practise mindfulness: Learning to focus on the present moment can help ease anxiety about the future. Mindfulness techniques helped me ground myself when the anxiety became overwhelming.
• Seek support: You don’t have to go through this alone. Whether it’s therapy or connecting with others who share your concerns, talking about your feelings is vital to managing them.

Final thoughts

Climate anxiety is real, and it affects more people than we might realise. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, know that you’re not alone. Therapy helped me work through my feelings of helplessness and despair, and it can do the same for you. By talking about these emotions and learning to manage them, we can reclaim our purpose and find ways to contribute to a better future—for ourselves and the planet.