Scoping review of climate change and mental health in Germany - Direct and indirect impacts, vulnerable groups, resilience factors

Nadja Gebhardt; Katharina van Bronswijk; Maxie Bunz; Tobias Müller; Pia Niessen; Christoph Nikendei

doi:10.25646/11656

Scoping review of climate change and mental health in Germany - Direct and indirect impacts, vulnerable groups, resilience factors

J Health Monit. 2023 Sep 6;8(Suppl 4):122-149. doi: 10.25646/11656. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Nadja Gebhardt¹, Katharina van Bronswijk², Maxie Bunz³, Tobias Müller^{4

5

6}, Pia Niessen⁷, Christoph Nikendei¹

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Psychosocial Medicine at University Hospital Heidelberg Department for General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics Heidelberg, Germany.
² Psychologists/Psychotherapists for Future (registered association) Bingen, Germany.
³ Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne Institute of General Practice Cologne, Germany.
⁴ University of Cambridge Department of Politics and International Studies Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁵ The New Institute Future of Democracy Working Group Hamburg, Germany.
⁶ Yale University Department of Political Science New Haven, USA.
⁷ Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI Karlsruhe, Germany.

PMID: 37799536
PMCID: PMC10548489
DOI: 10.25646/11656

Abstract

Background: Climate change is a major threat to human health and has direct and indirect impacts on the human psyche.

Methods: To assess the state of knowledge on the impact of climate change on mental health in Germany, a scoping review was conducted for the focus topics extreme weather events, temperature increase, intra-psychological processing, sociological aspects, and resilience factors. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria of the searches in the databases Academic Search Complete, CINAHL, PubPsych, PubMed, and PsychInfo. The majority of the studies looked at correlative relationships in a cross-sectional design.

Results: There are indications of an accumulation of psychiatric disorders after extreme weather events; in addition, the risk of suicide increases with higher temperatures and it appears there is an increase in aggressive behaviour. The majority of people surveyed in Germany report concerns about the consequences of climate change, although these currently rarely lead to clinically significant impairments in mental health.

Conclusions: Overall, the evidence for Germany must be classified as insufficient. In addition to the absolute priority of climate protection (mitigation) by reducing emissions, there is a particular need for additional research with a focus on vulnerable groups and possibilities for prevention and adaptation.

Keywords: CLIMATE CHANGE; MENTAL HEALTH; MENTAL WELL-BEING; RESILIENCE; STRUCTURAL PREVENTION.

Grants and funding

The publication was coordinated through the project KlimGesundAkt, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health (chapter 1504; title 54401 HJ2021; duration 07/2021–06/2024). Katharina van Bronswijk received an honorarium for her contribution from the project funds.