“People can do better at dealing with a big problem like climate change if they can mobilize action and if they can take steps toward problem-solving,” she said.
She found that people improve when they get involved with community or advocacy groups related to environmental issues. Victoria Harrison, a family systems psychotherapist in Houston, has worked with clients affected by flooding and wildfires. “But that wears on us if we’re not aware of that, and then we can become overstressed and start to fatigue.” “During adverse circumstances, it’s normal to have abnormal reactions,” he said. “When we have a heavy rain, the community still has people who have tension that begins to bubble up.” They became agitated or suggested closing the office when it rained. Young said he saw some of the same symptoms in members of his staff. “They become kind of hyperemotional, and in ways that aren’t typical for them,” he said. Wayne Young, the CEO of the Harris Center, Harris County’s government-funded and state-designated mental health authority, said he started noticing in 20 that patients who had lived through the previous devastating floods that hit Houston were showing symptoms of re-traumatization: sleep disruption, anxiousness and an inability to regulate emotions. She has not been approved for a government-funded rebuild or repair.Ĭlimate change “catastrophic” to mental health Last: Jones tears up as she recounts her experience with flooding.
“The more disasters that folks were exposed to, the more likely they are to have symptoms of PTSD, depression and generalized distress.”įirst: Dana Jones’ house in Houston, seen on Aug. “One might think that folks would adapt in terms of mental health - if you’ve been through this before, you know you can come out OK - but that’s actually not really what we’re finding in the data,” said Sarah Lowe, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health who researches mental health and natural disasters. The mental health conditions can last for several years. One review of scientific literature estimated that 30% to 40% of disaster victims develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, along with 10% to 20% of rescue workers. “Climate change, if left unaddressed, is projected to have catastrophic consequences on the mental health of entire populations,” the group of 10 leading international mental health researchers wrote. In 2021, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies published a paper by mental health researchers warning their colleagues about the dramatic impact climate change could have on the prevalence of trauma syndromes. Whether such conditions are unique or simply a psychological response to a specific stressful event is an active area of research. Researchers are beginning to use new terms including “climate trauma,” “climate anxiety” and “eco-grief” - referring to trauma from events made worse by climate change, general distress about climate change and grief for the plants, animals and places that may be lost - to describe mental health conditions precipitated by the effects of climate change. “In some cases, their fears are not overblown.” “With other kinds of anxiety problems, you might want to try to get people to realize that their fears are overblown, but that’s less likely to be the case with climate change,” said Susan Clayton, who researches climate change and mental illness and was a lead author of the Sixth IPCC Assessment report. After Hurricane Harvey brought waist-deep water into her home, Jones lived out of her truck for a month before finding somewhere to live.
The statement forecasts winds in excess of 40 mph and half-inch hail as well as gusty winds capable of knocking down trees and blowing away unsecured outdoor items.Dana Jones stands in front of her mother’s cabinet, one of her only items that survived the floods. Movement was south at 20 mph," the statement reads. "At 331 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along a line extending from near Todd Mission to near Woodbranch to near Batson. National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement warning of strong thunderstorms that will impact portions of southeastern Grimes, Montgomery, southwestern San Jacinto, Liberty, eastern Waller and northern Harris counties through 4:15 p.m.
The system is tacking south and is projected to enter the loop area around 5:00 p.m. Weather can be fluid, of course, and things have since developed into a somewhat more concerning matter as of Wednesday afternoon.Īccuweather radar shows a heavy band of storms spanning from near Montgomery County across The Woodlands to northeast of Hardin. Earlier in the day Lanza's Space City Weather partner Eric Berger pinned rainfall chances at around 40 percent and expected storms out of the north not to cause too much trouble as they dropped down into the metro.
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