Climate change will affect every aspect of our . But its potential harms go beyond the body’s ability to handle extreme heat, important as this is.
Authors
Helen Louise Berry
Honorary Professor, Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research, Macquarie University
Francis Vergunst
Associate Professor, Psychosocial Difficulties, University of Oslo
Extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, storms and wildfires, are becoming more frequent and severe. These affect our in a multitude of .
Coping with climate change can be overwhelming. Sometimes, the best someone can do is to seek refuge in alcohol, tobacco, over-the-counter and prescription drugs, or other psychoactive substances. This is understandable, but dangerous, and can have serious consequences.
We outline climate change could increase the risk of harmful substance use.
1. Mental health is harmed
Perhaps the most obvious way climate change can be linked to harmful substance use is by damaging mental health. This of new or worsened substance use.
People with a mental disorder are of also having a . This often precedes their mental health problems. Climate change-related increases in the number and nature of extreme events, in turn, are escalating risks to mental health.
For example, extreme heat is linked to increased across the whole population. In extreme heat, more people go to the for psychiatric problems, including for and generally. This is even true for .
Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and problems are at the time of extreme weather events and can persist for months, even years afterwards, especially if people are exposed to . This can the likelihood of using substances as a way to cope.
2. Worry increases
With of how climate change is endangering wellbeing, people are about what will happen if it remains unchecked.
Worrying isn’t the same as meeting the criteria for a mental disorder. But show climate change generates complex emotional responses, . As well as feelings of worry, there is anxiety, fear, guilt, anger, grief and helplessness.
Some , such as , are linked with long-term tobacco use and also make substance use more likely.
3. Physical injuries hurt us in many ways
Physical injuries caused by extreme weather events – such as smoke inhalation, burns and flood-related cuts and infections – increase the risk of harmful substance use. That’s partly because they the risk of psychological distress. If injuries cause long-term illness or disability, consequent feelings of hopelessness and depression can dispose some people to self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs.
Substance use itself can also generate long-term physiological harm, disabilities or other chronic health problems. These are higher rates of harmful substance use.
4. Our day-to-day lives change
A single catastrophic event, such as a storm or flood, can devastate lives overnight and change the way we live. So, too, can the more subtle changes in climate and day-to-day weather. Both can disrupt behaviour and routines in ways that risk new or worsened substance use, for example, using stimulants to cope with fatigue.
Take, for example, hotter temperatures, which disrupt , undermine , , and promote and .
5. It destabilises communities
Finally, climate change is destabilising the socioeconomic, natural, built and geopolitical on which human wellbeing – – depends.
Damaged infrastructure, agricultural losses, school closures, homelessness and displacement are significant that prompt acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) stress responses.
, in turn, can the risk of and make people more likely to relapse.
Why are we so concerned?
Substance-use disorders are economically and socially . Risky substance use that doesn’t meet the criteria for a formal diagnosis .
Aside from its direct physical harm, harmful substance use disrupts and . It increases the risk of and , and it undermines social relationships, intimate and .
Politicians take note
As we head towards the in Dubai, climate change is set to hit the headlines once more. Politicians know climate change is undermining human health and wellbeing. It’s well past time to insist they act.
As we have seen for populations as a whole, there are multiple possible ways for climate change to cause a rise in harmful substance use. This means multidimensional are needed. As well as addressing climate change more broadly, we need strategies including:
supporting vulnerable individuals, especially , and marginalised commmunities, who are by extreme weather-related events
focusing health-related policies more on broadscale health promotion, for example, healthier eating, active transport and community-led mental health support
investing in climate-resilient infrastructure, such as heat-proofing buildings and greening cities, to prevent more of the destabilising effects and stress we know contributes to mental health problems and harmful substance use.
There is now to avoiding dangerous climate change. However, if of climate protests are anything to go by, the world may finally be ready for radical change – and perhaps for reduced harmful substance use.
Helen Louise Berry has received funding from various national research funding organisations and other sources. She is a director of management consulting firm, Altitude Consulting, and a member of the Australian Greens political party.
Francis Vergunst does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
