{"id":9451,"date":"2014-11-01T17:04:51","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T17:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=9451"},"modified":"2014-11-01T17:08:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-01T17:08:17","slug":"pre-traumatic-stress-disorder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/pre-traumatic-stress-disorder\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPre-Traumatic Stress Disorder\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Socorro,<\/a>Cross-posted on the Corner<\/a> <\/p>\n

Just when you think that the misery that climate change is bringing in its wake can get no worse, there is this.<\/p>\n

Grist<\/em> reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2026From depression to substance abuse to suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder, growing bodies of research in the relatively new field of psychology of global warming suggest that climate change will take a pretty heavy toll on the human psyche as storms become more destructive and droughts more prolonged. For your everyday environmentalist, the emotional stress suffered by a rapidly changing Earth can result in some pretty substantial anxieties\u2026.<\/p>\n

Lise Van Susteren, a forensic psychiatrist based in Washington, D.C. \u2014 and co-author of the National Wildlife Federation\u2019s report \u2014 calls this emotional reaction \u201cpre-traumatic stress disorder,\u201d a term she coined to describe the mental anguish that results from preparing for the worst, before it actually happens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is, in my view, a perfectly reasonable case to be made that man may be contributing to the way that our ever-changing climate changes. That\u2019s one thing, but how some choose to express their belief in that proposition can be something altogether, well let\u2019s just say, less <\/em>reasonable. <\/p>\n

Millennialist hysteria is not, of course, a new phenomenon. But, to be fair, it\u2019s not all that hellish for those that embrace it. I suspect that with that, um, \u201cpre-traumatic stress disorder\u201d comes a certain excitement too, of a girding up for the End Times, of a preparation for that definitive battle to save the planet, stave off Satan or whatever the particular apocalypse may be.<\/p>\n

And the unbelievers just will not listen:<\/p>\n

Grist<\/em>:<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more deflating for a climate scientist is when sounding the alarm on climatic catastrophes seems to fall on deaf ears.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But that too all is not all bad. The willful ignorance of those who will not pay attention to that alarm reinforces the sense of moral superiority felt by those who do. Sinners make it so much easier to be a saint.<\/p>\n

And that sense of mission, how it burns<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Grist<\/em>: <\/p>\n

For activists like Mike Tidwell \u2014 founder of the nonprofit Chesapeake Climate Action Network and author of The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Race to Save America\u2019s Coastal Cities \u2014 part of being on the front lines means being outspoken and passionate about the cause. But while activism may be a more forgiving platform to express emotional stresses than within the scientific community, the personal toll of the work goes largely undiscussed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t just start talking about unbelievably fast sea-level rise at a cocktail party at a friend\u2019s house,\u201d Tidwell says. \u201cSo having to deny the emotional need to talk about what\u2019s on your mind all the time \u2026 those are some of the burdens that climate aware scientists and activists have to endure\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026.Perhaps it\u2019s time for those deeply involved in climate science to come forward about the emotional struggle, or at the very least, for those in mental health research and support to start exploring climate change psychology with more fervor. And reaching out to scientists in particular could be a huge opportunity to better explore the world of climate psych, says psychosocial researcher and consultant Renee Lertzman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a taboo talking about it,\u201d Lertzman says, adding that the tight-lipped culture of the scientific community can be difficult to bridge. \u201cWe\u2019re just starting to piece that together. The field of the psychology of climate change is still very, very young \u2026 I believe there are profound and not well-recognized or understood psychological implications of what I would call being a frontliner. There needs to be a lot more attention given to frontliners and where they\u2019re given support.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe field of the psychology of climate change\u201d is \u201cvery, very young\u201d? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

The chosen, the elect, the saved, the righteous, the \u201cfrontliners\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a very, very old story, but with a new script. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted on the Corner Just when you think that the misery that climate change is bringing in its wake can get no worse, there is this. Grist reports: \u2026From depression to substance abuse to suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder, growing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[9,15,13],"tags":[397,390],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9452,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9451\/revisions\/9452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}