Get to know us
- creating awareness of the climate crisis
- facilitating emotional coping strategies
- encouraging constructive action when dealing with the climate crisis
- supporting climate activists (individuals and groups)
- respecting human autonomy
- avoiding harm to humans, animals and nature
- promoting human well-being
- upholding human dignity and human rights
- regarding humanity as a part of nature that is worth protecting
- Public relations, workshops, professional psychological counselling, and talks about climate psychology and climate resilience
- Coaching, psycho-social counselling, and mediation for climate activists
- Group sessions on emotional coping with the climate crisis
- Networking and exchange of thoughts among climate protecting psychologists and psychotherapists
Psychologists/Psychotherapists for Future was founded in May 2019 as grassroots movement by a few colleagues who were looking for allies in their struggle against the climate crisis.
As we researched the field it quickly became clear that the climate crisis is a psychological crisis. Within weeks, more and more colleagues joined who have been willing to spend part of their spare time to volunteer for this initiative ever since.
On 21 May 2019 we published our statement with more than 100 signatures. Every week, new teams and regional groups were founded, inspiration flowed, new approaches were discussed, and the network grew. Our aim is to publicly leverage our psychological and psychotherapeutical knowledge and skills and to exert influence on society.
Our first focus has been centered on „Mental Health for Activists“ and establishing regional connections with our colleagues from Scientists for Future.
Our declared goals include informing the Fridays for Future movement and other opinion leaders about psychological issues related to tackling the climate crisis, becoming active ourselves, and raising awareness for the possibilities of this social movement.
Statement by Psychologists and Psychotherapists in Response to the Protests for Increased Climate Protection
– #Psychologists4Future / #Psychotherapists4Future –
The current protests by the climate protection movement are consistent, distinct and well justified. A continued rapid warming of the earth threatens our natural existence as well as our physical and psychological integrity. It is an existential threat to mankind.
For many years various international psychological and medical authorities have researched the connections between climate change and psychology/psychotherapy. As early as 2008 the American Psychological Association already formed a „task force“. As a group of professionals we see it as our responsibility to bring in our expertise.
Based on scientific sources it is known that:
- Climate Change and the resulting environmental crisis are intuitively underestimated. Impacts that are experienced as unpleasant, through psychological defense mechanisms (individually and collectively) can be held in the subconscious. Individual people and many politicians alike misjudge the extent of the threat to a high degree. This collective denial hinders individual as well as political action. Psychological mechanisms that prevent behavioral change and political action must be identified, communicated and overcome.The students of the Fridays-for-Future-Movement had the courage to face this fear and to point out their grievances. The opposition to these protests is understandable from a psychological point of view. Hence, those of us aware of the existential crisis, will support others in developing an individual and collective recognition of the problem.
- Motivating people towards behavioral change and increasing environmental and climate awareness is a psychological task.Often it is plain habit; the feeling of not having any control or to be able to have an impact, that inhibits action. We can help people to develop greater self-efficacy, action control, to increase a feeling of responsibility and to reduce a sense of powerlessness.
- The awareness of the urgency of climate and ecological crisis can bring about symptoms of psychological disorders.As professionals, we must be prepared. This can bring about intense, overwhelming feelings that can result in a sense of powerlessness and even psychological disorders.Without political intervention for more climate protection, we will experience the repercussions outlined in environmental psychological research.
- The condition of the environment will have complex impacts on our behavior, health and life experience. Various studies point to increasing psychological and physical impacts following extreme weather events such as loss of the familiar living environment. The global as well as national response capacities to confront such crises are currently not in place and must be created.
As psychologists and psychotherapists it is our duty to help people maintain their mental health, to cope with adversities and to support progress. The very existence and well-being of future generations is threatened and cannot be overcome without political action.
We all have a right to psychological well-being (Art. 25 Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 12 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights).
The concerns of the protestors are justified and reasonable.
These concerns are based on established scientific data (compare Scientists4Future). The current measures to protect the climate and to conserve species, forests, oceans and soil are insufficient and have to be expanded in a timely fashion.
As psychologists and psychotherapists we support and reinforce the demands of the Fridays-for-Future-Movement for more urgent and consistent action and for a fundamental political and social paradigm shift regarding climate. The goals set by the Paris Accord must be met.
We are recognizing our personal and professional responsibility and wish to increase pressure on the decision makers and motivate them toward more timely action.
Signatories:
4,408 psychologists and psychotherapists from 22 countries have signed the statement (as of 2020/03/09).
Sources:
- Brick,
C. & van der Linden, S. (2018) „Yawning at the apocalypse”. In: The
Psychologist, 31, 30-35. British Psychological Society - James,
P., Iyer, A. & Webb, T.L. “The impact of post-migration stressors on
refugees ́ emotional distress and health: A longitudinal analysis”. In:
European Journal of Social Psychology, 16.04.2019 - Lequertier,
B., Simcock, G., Cobham, V.E., Kildea, S. & King, S. “Infant
Behavior and Competence Following Prenatal Exposure to a Natural
Disaster: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study”. In: Infancy, Vol. 24,
Issue 3, 06.03.2019 - Lertzman, R. (2014) “Breaking the Climate
Fear Taboo. Why feelings matter for our climate change communications”,
Sightline Institute (www.sightline.org) - Lertzman, R. (2015) “Environmental Melancholia. Psychoanalytic dimensions of engagement”. Routledge, 1. Aufl.
- Lertzman, R. (2017) “How Can We Talk About Global Warming?”. In: Sierra Magazin, 19.07.2017
- Lowe,
S.R., McGrath, J.A., Young, M.N., Kwok, R.K., Engel, L.S., Galea, S.
& Sandler, D.P. “Cumulative Disaster Exposure and Mental and
Physical Health Symptoms Among a Large Sample of Gulf Coast Residents”.
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Y., Davey, K., Pehme, P.M., Finik, J., Glover, V., Zhang, W., Huang,
Y., Buthmann, J., Dana, K., Yoshida, S., Tsuchiya, K.J., Bo Li, X. &
Ham, J. “Influence of in utero exposure to maternal depression and
natural disaster-related stress on infant temperament at 6 month: The
children of Superstorm Sandy”. In: Infant Mental Health Journal, Vol.
40, Issue 2, 05.02.2019 - Poulsen, B. (2018) “On Mourning Climate
Change. The psychological crisis that accompanies our changing climate”.
In: Psychology Today, 16.12.2018 - Rhys Lim, J., Fisher Liu, B.,
Egnoto, M. & Roberts, H.A. “Individuals ́ religiosity and emotional
coping in response to disasters”. In: Journal of Contingencies and
Crisis Management, 17.04.2019 - Riederer, R. (2019) “The Other
Kind Of Climate Denialism”. In: The New Yorker Van Valkengoed, A. &
Steg, L. (2019): “Meta-analyses of factors motivating climate change
adaptation behaviour”. In: Nature Climate Change 9, 158-163 - http://fridaysforfuture.de, 12.05.2019
- http://www.scientistsforfuture.org, 12.05.2019
- https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html, 12.05.2019
- https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx, 12.05.2019
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