Susan Clayton, PhD, is the Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Dr. Clayton’s research examines people’s relationship with the natural environment; she has written about the effects of climate change on mental health, particularly climate anxiety, and has written or edited 7 books. A fellow of the American Psychological Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology, she was a lead author on the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Article3 min read
How to Cope With Climate Anxiety in a Changing Environment
- Susan Clayton PhD
- Oct 1, 2025
- 3
Is anxiety about climate change, global warming, and the environment keeping you awake at night? You’re not alone. A global study published in The Lancet Planetary Health surveyed 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 across ten countries—Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results showed that 80% of participants were concerned about the effects of climate change, and nearly half—45%—experienced anxiety so intense that it disrupted their daily lives.
Eco-anxiety can affect anyone from anywhere and from any background. As you do your part to keep the planet healthier, it’s important to prioritize your own mental health, too.
Hope to Cope with Anxiety About the Environment
Tip sheet:
Quick Tricks to Manage Your Emotions
The negative emotions caused by climate anxiety can cause severe distress, so regular check-ins with your mental health are key. There are a few expert-recommended techniques you can use to keep your anxiety in check. They include:
- Cognitive reframing: Try to frame the problem in a way that seems less catastrophic.
- Take breaks: Constant bombardment of negative information from news outlets and social media can cause news anxiety. Step away from time to time by checking the news less frequently and muting accounts that post too much stressful information.
- Practice mindful breathing: Breathing exercises and other mindfulness techniques are great ways to turn down the volume button on overwhelming and catastrophic thoughts.
Tip sheet:
Long-Term Eco-Anxiety Management Methods
Taking time to sharpen your personal skill set can also help with long-term management of climate anxiety. These require consistent practice but pay off by increasing resilience. For example:
- Build personal skills: Learning to regulate your emotions and behavior can help prevent anxiety attacks triggered by climate news.
- Form social connections: Healthy relationships are strongly associated with mental well-being.
- Believe in your ability to make change: While this can be difficult when it comes to the environment, believing that your actions can make a difference is helpful in lessening anxiety responses.
- Take action: Many people believe that the best cure for anxiety is activism. Taking personal action might help you feel in control and alleviate feelings of uneasiness. Seeing others work together can also instill hope. However, it’s important to understand both the pros and cons of activism when it comes to your personal mental health.
Quiz: Is Getting Involved Helping or Hurting My Anxiety?
| When It Helps | When It Hurts |
| Getting involved gives me a sense of control and purpose. | Only having time for activism outside of work, school, or family responsibilities makes me feel like I’m not doing enough. |
| Connecting with like-minded people has led me to form valued social connections. Witnessing collaboration in the name of a cause makes me feel uplifted and gives me hope. | The more time I dedicate to activism, the more my mind becomes preoccupied with climate concerns at all hours of the day. I find it hard to detach. |
| I do my part each day by recycling, supporting sustainable brands, and carpooling or taking public transportation when I can. | Not a moment goes by when I’m not thinking about how each of my choices impacts the environment. Personal guilt prevents me from driving, flying, or making purchases from brands I disagree with, even on rare occasions. |
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