Climate anxiety: When the state of the world weighs on the mind

Finland has produced significant research on climate anxiety. A 2019 nationwide survey found that 25% of Finns recognised climate anxiety in themselves. The Youth Barometer 2021 showed nearly 60% of young people had discussed climate anxiety in the previous six months, and 76% felt sadness about biodiversity loss (University of Helsinki). The University of Helsinki's EDUCA TeensGoGreen 2024 project identified four distinct climate-distress profiles (University of Helsinki 2024).

This article covers what climate anxiety is, when it's natural and when it requires treatment, and how to relate to it both individually and as a community.

What climate anxiety is

Climate anxiety (also eco-anxiety) is not an official psychiatric diagnosis. It's a broad category covering different feelings: worry, sadness, guilt, anger, helplessness, a hazy view of the future. They are responses to a real threat: climate change, biodiversity loss, increased environmental disasters.

Researchers often distinguish functional from disabling climate anxiety. Functional climate anxiety produces action: a person changes their consumption, advocates politically, seeks solutions. Disabling climate anxiety locks: everyday choices produce excessive guilt, thinking about the future is nearly impossible, having children feels morally untenable, and no activism brings comfort.

The University of Helsinki research identified four profiles: activists (much concern, much action), deniers (little concern, little action), the despairing (much concern, little action), and the indifferent (in between). Functional capacity depends not only on the amount of worry but on the means available.

When concern is healthy

Up front: concern about climate is a rational response. Climate change is real, and its consequences are scientifically documented. From this view, an appropriate amount of concern is in direct proportion to the state of the environment.

Functional concern shows in these signs: feelings are targeted, not overwhelming; they motivate action rather than lock; daily life mostly continues normally; you sleep, eat, and function in relationships as before; you act collectively, not as a lone saviour.

When climate anxiety requires treatment

Treatment is worth considering if:

Climate anxiety fills your entire mental space and you can't take a break. Sleep is repeatedly disturbed by climate thoughts. Daily functioning erodes: work goes undone, relationships suffer, you don't get pleasure from things you used to. Panic attacks or prolonged anxiety develop. Feelings are locked into guilt, shame, or hopelessness so you can't see the possibility of change. Suicidal thoughts occur.

At this point it's no longer "just climate anxiety" but an anxiety- or depression-level state requiring assessment and possibly treatment.

What can be done

Practical tools that help with both functional and disabling climate anxiety:

Building emotional skills: recognising, naming, and allowing the feeling without forcing yourself to a solution. Feelings are information, not commands. Dosage regulation: limiting climate news consumption and choosing information sources by reliability and action focus. Seeking connection: climate anxiety isolates, but it's a shared experience. Communities doing something concrete are medicine for helplessness. Channelling energy into action: small concrete action (advocacy, volunteering, life choices) beats much thinking. Spending time in nature: restoring connection with what we want to protect. Therapeutic conversation when anxiety has taken over.

Finnish organisations have worked on climate emotions. MIELI ry's eco-anxiety workshops and Tunne ry's training are examples. The University of Helsinki Climate University platform offers open courses on the topic (Climate University).

When professional help is needed

If climate anxiety meets criteria for an anxiety disorder or depression, seeking help is justified. Käypä hoito guidelines for anxiety and depression apply also here, although the object of anxiety relates to climate.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can help when thoughts have narrowed to catastrophic thinking. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) works particularly well: it doesn't try to remove anxiety but helps you live by your values alongside it. Solution-focused therapy can help with directing into action.

Where to get help

Your own health centre: the therapy guarantee. MIELI ry crisis centres and the crisis line 09 2525 0111. Tunne ry and other emotional/environmental-emotion organisations offer workshops and peer groups. The Finnish Psychological Association directory (psyli.fi): look for therapists who mention eco-anxiety or ACT competence. Climate-engaged communities such as Greenpeace, WWF, the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation reduce loneliness and helplessness. In acute crises, 112.

Sources

• University of Helsinki: Four groups of adolescents experiencing climate distress
• University of Helsinki: Youth climate anxiety and eco-emotions (Youth Barometer 2021)
• Climate University: University of Helsinki
• Climate-ADAPT: Support for climate-related distress in Finland

Where to find a therapist

You can look for a therapist in several places:

• Search services run by the Finnish Psychological Association (Psykologiliitto) and professional bodies.
• Kela's service provider search, if you are applying for rehabilitative psychotherapy (only Kela-approved therapists qualify for reimbursement).
• The Valitse Terapia service and other directories.
• Your own health centre, occupational health service or student health service (YTHS), which can refer you onward.

You can contact several therapists and see with whom the collaboration feels natural.