Climate change, Environment Pollution, Covid-19 Pandemic and Mental Health

Abstract

Converging data would indicate the existence of possible relationships between climate change, environmental pollution and epidemics/pandemics, such as the current one due to SARS-COV2 virus. Each of these phenomena has been supposed to provoke detrimental effects on mental health mental. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to review the available scientific literature on these variables in order to suggest and comment on their eventual synergistic effects on mental health.

The available literature report that climate change, air pollution and COVID-19 pandemic might influence mental health, with disturbances ranging form mild negative emotional responses to full-blown psychiatric conditions, specifically, anxiety and depression, stress/trauma-related disorders, and substance abuse. The most vulnerable groups include elderly, children, woman, people with pre-existing health problems especially mental illnesses, subjects taking some types of medications including psychotropic drugs, individuals with low socio-economic status, and immigrants.

It is evident that COVID-19 pandemic uncovers all the fragility and weakness of our ecosystem, and inability to protect ourselves from pollutants. Again, it underlines our faults and neglect towards disasters deriving from climate change or pollution, or the consequences of human activities irrespective of natural habitats and constantly increasing the probability of spillover of viruses from animals to humans.

In conclusion, the psychological/psychiatric consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, that currently seem unavoidable, represent a sharp cue of our misconception and indifference towards the links between our behaviors and their influence on the “health” of our planet and of ourselves. It is time to move forwards towards a deeper understanding of these relationships, not only for our survival, but for the maintenance of that balance amongst man, animals and environment at the basis of the life in the earth, otherwise there will be no future.

Graphical abstract

Highlights

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  Converging evidences would indicate the existence of possible relationships between climate change, environmental pollution and epidemics/pandemics, such as the current one due to SARS-COV2 virus

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  Each of these factors may provoke psychological/psychiatric disorders “per se”, however the information on their possible reciprocal influences are scants

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  The literature review allows us to hypothesize that all together, climate change, environmental pollution and COVID-19 pandemic may increase the risk of developing psychological/psychiatric disorders

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  The prevention of pandemics, such as the current one, and of their psychological/psychiatric consequences, requires the emergence and promotion of a really ecological awareness worldwide leading to heterogeneous and global interventions to at least reduce, if not revert, climate change, air pollution, and intensive and destructive human activities.