1. Don’t Try to Deny or Suppress Your Emotions
“In other types of anxiety, the anxiety response is seen as disproportionate to the situation,” says Liza Jachens, PhD, a psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Nottingham in London. “But for eco-anxiety, it may be argued to be a normal and rational response to a real climate emergency.”
Hickman agrees. “We’re not going to reduce a person’s anxiety by telling them this isn’t terrifying, because that’s a lie,” she says.
Rather than attempt to minimize someone’s feelings or concerns, she says it’s more helpful to embrace these emotions in a way that makes them more tolerable and less disruptive. “Mindfulness is brilliant for this,” she says. “It’s about learning to live with and tolerate and accept what you’re feeling so you can move forward in a positive way.”