Climate change doesn't just wreak havoc on your physical surroundings -- it affects your mental health too.Flooding, drought and superstorms cause actual psychological fallout, according to Australian researchers."The damage caused by a changing climate is not just physical," they said in a report released this week by the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Sydney."Recent experience shows extreme weather events also pose a serious risk to public health, including mental health and wellbeing, with serious flow-on consequences for the economy and wider society."The new 30-page study focuses on Australia, hit in recent years by a devastating drought -- known as "The Big Dry" -- along with severe fires and floods.Up to now, however, few efforts have been made to assess the psychological impact of climate change-enhanced weather events, which in Australia have destroyed communities, farms and businesses.In poorer countries with less capacity to absorb such shocks, the consequences on mental health are likely to be even greater, the report warned."The emerging burden of climate-related impacts on community morale and mental health -- bereavement, depression, post-event stress disorders, and the tragedy of self-harm -- is large," noted Tony McMichael, a professor at Australian National University, in introducing the study.Statistics from Australia show higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse, violence, family breakups and suicide after extreme weather events, with impacts more pronounced in rural and semi-rural areas according to the report.
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..
