The Psychological Work of Being with the Climate Crisis

2024
Therapeutic perspectives
Climate and ecological emotions
Hope & resilience

This chapter focuses on the psychological work involved in addressing collective symptoms such as eco-anxiety, disorientation, terror, despair, helplessness and rage as humanity crosses a geological and cultural threshold into the Anthropocene. Drawing particularly on the Climate Psychology Alliance's 'Through the Door' workshop, running since 2018, the chapter outlines how psychotherapists and other professionals struggling with incapacity and helplessness have been supported, and shares therapeutic practices especially fit for this uncertain time.

Chris Robertson

Psychotherapist and trainer since 1978, founding facilitator of Through the Door, ex-CPA Chair, co-founder of Re-Vision, and co-author of Climate Psychology: A Matter of Life and Death (2022).

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This chapter focuses on the psychological work involved in addressing collective symptoms such as eco-anxiety, disorientation, terror, despair, helplessness and rage as humanity crosses a geological and cultural threshold into the Anthropocene. Drawing particularly on the Climate Psychology Alliance's 'Through the Door' workshop, running since 2018, the chapter outlines how psychotherapists and other professionals struggling with incapacity and helplessness have been supported, and shares therapeutic practices especially fit for this uncertain time.

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Therapeutic perspectives Reading List

The sources on this list relate to therapeutic perspectives. They are not freely accessible online - most require a library subscription, institutional access, or purchase.

Climate and ecological emotions Reading List

The sources on this list relate to climate and ecological emotions. They are not freely accessible online - most require a library subscription, institutional access, or purchase.

Hope & resilience Reading List

The sources on this list relate to hope & resilience. They are not freely accessible online - most require a library subscription, institutional access, or purchase.

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