More and more widespread, eco-anxiety has a direct impact on our daily mental health. In this article, we tell you all about this social phenomenon.
We have been hearing about eco-anxiety (or solastalgia) for several years now, a suffering in the collective dimension, which results in a deep sense of sadness and helplessness in the face of environmental degradation. While the scientific community keeps warning us about global warming, the situation continues to worsen and part of the population is suffering. Especially affecting young people, this mental disorder encompasses a whole host of feelings: not only anxiety, but also sadness, fear, anger, helplessness, or even guilt. But then, faced with the deterioration of the situation, is it really possible to detach yourself from this new form of anxiety when you are subjected to it?
Do you suffer from eco-anxiety?
Sleep disorders, stress, anxiety attacks, anxiety disorders, even depression, fatalistic vision of the future, inability to plan for the long term… Eco-anxiety can be the source of many ailments which are most often exacerbated following the announcement of worrying news concerning the fate of the planet. And as the current events in this direction keep multiplying, it is difficult for the eco-anxious to move forward. If this sounds like you, then maybe it means that you suffer from eco-anxiety.
Eco-anxiety: a rational disorder
Heatwave, fires, floods … Lately, not a week goes by without alarming information about the environment making the headlines all over the world … And as the bad news news is falling, the mental health of people with eco-anxiety tends to deteriorate.
It is clear that this suffering, considered as “the evil of the century”, does not stem from pathology, but rather froma normal emotional reaction based on scientific veracity, which makes its management all the more complicated. Not to mention that eco-anxiety is still little known and studied in France. Lack of awareness, many run into a wall when consulting. Fortunately, all is not lost: in the United States, for example, eco-anxiety has grown and is taken more seriously.
How to overcome eco-anxiety?
If eco-anxiety is difficult to manage given that it is lucid, that it is based on a certain awareness and that it is little considered in France, this does not mean, however, that it is necessary to leave sadness and anguish make the daily lives of the most sensitive among us.
If you are eco-anxious, here are some tips that may help you take a step back: in order to regain control, it is already important to accept that it is not all on your shoulders and that it is ‘this isa collective fight. In addition, do not hesitate to freely discuss the subject around you, know that many more people than you might think care. Very important also: do not neglect small daily gestures, these can be a source of personal satisfaction and will allow you to feel guilty if you consider them at their fair value. Also, why don’t you invest in an association working for the environmental cause ? You will thus act directly against the source of your anxieties and will no longer feel so helpless.
Editor for the beauty section, Mélissa intends to share with you all the secrets of this vast universe. Nothing escapes her and it is with you that she shares all her finds …