Photo: Messenger
The images that flicker before our mind when we talk of extreme weather conditions are people wading in waist-deep flood water or running for shelter in a cyclonic storm. The physical suffering and pain gets highlighted to the world and in response, everyone rushes with relief materials like food items and drinking water. But, at such times of natural catastrophe, hardly anyone cares to know about the mental suffering of the people, especially of the women and growing children. How do they face the uncertainties of rising flood waters or the storm that is about to ravage their home? No doubt, in the back of their mind lingers the worry that food shortage and diseases will come in the wake of such calamitous conditions.
The impact of climate change on the minds of people has so far been an unknown phenomenon, but painstaking research works by public health experts have revealed how deep the wounds on minds tend to go unless they are addressed adequately and in time. In recent years, more research helped to collect valuable data, which ultimately made it easy for researchers and policy planners to establish a correlation between climate change and mental suffering.
Mental health experts now say that during extreme heat or cold, during prolonged rain or flood, people suffer higher levels of psychological distress and even develop serious mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or substance abuse disorders, etc. During such extreme climatic conditions, mental equilibrium gets upset when faced with predicaments like unemployment, homelessness, food, shelter and water insecurity.
Climate experts are unanimous in their opinion that extreme heat contributes to injurious consequences on mental health. People exposed to extreme heat tend to become more stressed and irritable in their interpersonal relationships. Lack of sleep after a hard day’s work can worsen mental health problems.
Furthermore, it has been established that adverse climate conditions usually affect women and children profoundly, as they remain more prone to abuse and insecurity than men. Women face hygiene issues during adverse climate conditions and they might face the obligation to stay with several people in a small shelter house.
We may take the opportunity to share an important study conducted by Georgetown University, George Washington University and the World Bank in Bangladesh. The study revealed that extreme heat and humidity and other climate-related events have an alarming impact on mental health conditions in terms of depression and anxiety in Bangladesh, the world’s seventh-most vulnerable country to climate change.
The findings from this research work appeared in February 2023 in the Lancet Planetary Health.
Here are some key elements from the study: The study’s lead author, Syed Shabab Wahid, an assistant professor in the Department of Global Health at Georgetown University’s School of Health, says that they have now established a high-water mark that could soon be eclipsed for how climate can impact mental health in a highly vulnerable country. This should serve as a warning for other nations. He further says that the previous global research has found a link between these climate-related phenomena and adverse mental health outcomes in terms of depression and anxiety. As climate change worsens, temperature and humidity will continue to increase, as will natural disasters such as extreme flooding, having worsening impact on our collective mental health.
The researchers measured climate-related variables at 43 weather stations in Bangladesh to monitor record changes in seasonal temperature and humidity over a two-month period. They, however, said this was not long enough to record climate change impact but enough to record indications of how even small changes in weather can impact mental health outcomes.
The findings show that ‘people experiencing 1 degree Celsius higher temperature during the two months preceding the study had a 21 per cent higher probability of an anxiety disorder and a 24 per cent higher likelihood of both depression and an anxiety disorder simultaneously. Similarly, a 1g of moisture per cubic metre of air increase in humidity was found to create a 6 per cent higher probability of a co-occurrence of anxiety and depression.
Public health experts say that ‘exposure to worsening flooding linked to climate change in the region was attributed to increased odds of all conditions: depression by 31 per cent, anxiety by 69 per cent and the presence of both conditions by 87 per cent. The overall prevalence of depression in the Bangladeshi population was 16.3 per cent, which is considerably higher than global estimates of depression of 4.4 per cent found in other studies. In addition to the finding of the large disparity in depression levels in Bangladesh compared with global estimates, they found anxiety levels of 6.0 per cent in Bangladesh compared with estimates of 3.6 per cent globally.
Physical and mental readiness to face the extreme weather conditions, Public Health experts suggest, is key to survival. Trained volunteers should handle people suffering from traumatic experiences during floods or cyclones carefully. Volunteers must ensure that women and young girls are not subjected to harassment in shelter houses. Health experts further suggest that as extreme heat impacts minds of people living under worse conditions, it is advisable to avoid working under scorching sun or in a hot environment.
It has been recommended that employers should be taken on board to help lessen the sufferings of the workers. Caregivers should try to adopt culturally appropriate measures while addressing mental worries and depression. Early symptoms of distress, trauma and depression should be attended by professionals only. Mental health care facilities must be made available to all, regardless of class, age and gender.
They must know about the importance of proper psychological healthcare to lead a happy family life. Poor women must be told that they can ask for counseling almost at no cost.
The writer is a Senior journalist.
Messenger/Disha
