ABSTRACT (Open Access via Helsinki repository/PhilArchive): This essay examines the connection between fear and the psychopathologies it can bring, looking in particular at the fears that individuals experience in the face of the climate crisis and environmental degradation more generally. We know that fear can be a source of good and ill — fears of climate-change-driven heat waves, for instance, can spur both activism and denial. But we don't yet have a very good understanding of why eco-fears shape our thoughts and actions in the ways that they do, or why some experiences of eco-fear can lead to depression, PTSD, and other psychopathologies. The essay focuses on the role that feelings of agency — our general feeling that we have enough ability to address the threats and challenges we face — play in understanding and addressing these pathologies.
Fear, Pathology, and Feelings of Agency: Lessons from Ecological Fear
ABSTRACT (Open Access via Helsinki repository/PhilArchive): This essay examines the connection between fear and the psychopathologies it can bring, looking in particular at the fears that individuals experience in the face of the climate crisis and environmental degradation more generally. We know that fear can be a source of good and ill — fears of climate-change-driven heat waves, for instance, can spur both activism and denial. But we don't yet have a very good understanding of why eco-fears shape our thoughts and actions in the ways that they do, or why some experiences of eco-fear can lead to depression, PTSD, and other psychopathologies. The essay focuses on the role that feelings of agency — our general feeling that we have enough ability to address the threats and challenges we face — play in understanding and addressing these pathologies.
Kurth
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