Climate Change and Mental Health

About the Program

The Yale Program on Climate Change and Mental Health, housed within the Center on Climate Change and Health, is dedicated to conducting research, education, and advocacy at the intersection of climate change and psychological wellbeing.

Robust research indicates that extreme weather events – such as wildfires, hurricanes, and floods – are associated with population-level increases in a range of mental health conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder, major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and substance use. These burdens are not distributed equally: people with fewer economic resources, preexisting mental health conditions, or greater disaster exposure are at increased risk.

More recent efforts have expanded the focus on climate change and mental health to include slow-moving environmental changes, such as increasing temperatures and sea level rise, and existential threats to life on Earth. Although these exposures have been linked to psychological distress, some evidence suggests that mild climate-related symptoms can encourage collective action and sustainable behaviors.

Through interdisciplinary collaboration, we seek to understand how climate-related exposures affect mental health, identify protective factors that foster resilience, and develop strategies to promote psychological well-being amid a changing climate. We are committed to promoting mental health equity, partnering with communities most affected by climate change and ensuring that the benefits of climate action include psychological health for all.

Vision

We envision interdisciplinary, multi-sector collaborations that illuminate how climate change affects mental health, fosters the psychological resilience required for sustained climate action, and advances mental health equity worldwide.

Resources

Organizations working at the intersection of climate change and mental health

• American Psychiatric Association Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health
• American Psychological Association Climate Change Psychology Advisory Group
• Climate Mental Health Network
• Climate Psychiatry Alliance
• Climate Psychology Alliance North America
• Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress

Selected Team Publications

• Benoit, L., Lowe, S. R., Thomas, I., Amsalem, D., & Martin, A. (2025). Climate change hopefulness, anxiety, and behavioral intentions among adolescents: Randomized controlled trial of a brief “selfie” video intervention. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 19(1), 13.
• Benoit, L., Thomas, I., & Martin, A. (2022). Ecological awareness, anxiety, and actions among youth and their parents: A qualitative study of newspaper narratives. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 27(1), 47–58.
• Burrows, K., Denckla, C. A., Hahn, J., Schiff, J. E., Okuzono, S. S., Randriamady, H., Mita, C., Kubzansky, L. D., Koenen, K. C., & Lowe, S. R. (2024). A systematic review of the effects of chronic, slow-onset climate change on mental health. Nature Mental Health, 2, 228–243.
• Lowe, S. R., & Garfin, D. R. (2023). Crisis in the air: The mental health implications of the 2023 Canadian wildfires. The Lancet Planetary Health, 7(9), e732–e733.
• Lowe, S. R., & Garfin, D. R. (2025). Climate disasters and mental health: Future directions for research, practice, and policy. The Lancet Planetary Health, 10, e354–e355.
• Lowe, S. R., Raker, E. J., Arcaya, M. C., Zacher, M. L., Waters, M. C., & Rhodes, J. E. (2020). A life course model of trauma and mental health among low-income survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 33, 950-961.
• Schwartz, S. E. O., Benoit, L., Clayton, S., Parnes, M. F., Swenson, L., & Lowe, S. R. (2023). Climate change anxiety and mental health: Environmental activism as buffer. Current Psychology, 42, 18779–18792.
• Thomas, I., Martin, A., Wicker, A., & Benoit, L. (2022). Understanding youths’ concerns about climate change: A binational qualitative study of ecological burden and resilience. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 16(1), 88.
• Wortzel, J. R., Haase, E., Mark, B., Stashevsky, A., & Lewis, J. (2022). Teaching to our time: A survey study of current opinions and didactics about climate mental health training in U.S. psychiatry residency and fellowship programs. Academic Psychiatry, 46(5), 578–585.
• Wortzel, J. R., Lawrance, E. L., Minor, K., Boyle, H. K., Wortzel, J. D., Bell, M. L., & Yaggi, H. K. (2025). Advancing heat-related mental health research: Moving beyond epidemiological links. The Lancet Planetary Health, 9(10), e754–e756.
• Wortzel, J. R., Lawrance, E. L., Minor, K., Yaggi, H. K., & Pearlson, G. D. (2025). Ambient heat and brain function in children: New insights and promising directions for the study of climate–mental health. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Advance online publication.
• Wortzel, J. R., Lee, J., Benoit, L., Rubano, A., & Pinsky, E. G. (2022). Perspectives on climate change and pediatric mental health: A qualitative analysis of interviews with researchers in the field. Academic Psychiatry, 46(5), 562–568.