When Shelot Masithi, a Psychology student at the University of Limpopo in South Africa, contacted CPA, she had an interest in climate psychology’s approach to water scarcity. Kate Evans was struck by what Shelot called the ‘daunting question’ posed on the CPA discussion forum: “What will be the state of health psychology in a society with a deepening climate change, food shortage, and degrading land?”
As anxiety about ecological crisis and the coronavirus spreads, we might expect defensive psychological formations to take hold on a large scale.
Has it not already started, the social collapse predicted to be part of climate derangement?
“Proud Boys”
An American all-male neo-fascist militia group called “Proud Boys” came to international attention recently when Trump gave it explicit public support.
How can CPA adapt its purposes to the rapid and profound changes that are now impacting the climate and climate psychology, from unprecedented hostile weather to unbridled governments manipulating through lies, from a losing fight to vanquish Covid-19 to record levels of mental distress? Does it mean a shift of focus within the scope and topics CPA has developed over the years; does it mean a radical new approach?
We are a diverse community of therapeutic practitioners, thinkers, researchers, artists and others. We believe that attending to the psychology and emotions of the climate and ecological crisis is at the heart of our work.