Environmental, Socio-political and Climate Distress

I have come to ponder and live my own life with the deepening understanding that the predicament we are now in as a species is asking of us a very tall order. Imbued by both horror and potential, witnessing joys of new births, sunrises and friends as well as war, cost of living crises, finding work, growing poverty, daily loss of species, environmental degradation and climate change - How do we hold both? I purposefully use the word distress and not anxiety. We do ourselves a terrible disservice by naming this an ‘anxiety’ it is not. Anxiety suggests there is a pathway to not being anxious, that ‘you’ are being anxious and that you have an alternative. Instead Bendell/Csapo essay (https://jembendell.com/2026/01/24/dont-forget-the-dread-deeper-healing-in-the-metacrisis/) names it as ‘dread and despair’. I have begun to name this as the ‘Intolerable holding of both’ and wonder what if we were able to look it straight in the face and not be diminished by it and its truth. As a climate and environmental aware therapist I stand steadfast in hearing whatever it is that troubles the mind, the fears and the grief. No matter how illogical they may be thought to be, they can be shared, be allowed to be said out loud, heard and witnessed so the body holding the sense of this intolerable place can begin to release.   I understand that one of the pathways into being able to stay present to this moment is to understand the impact it has on our bodies. Our central nervous systems were not built to process the amount of information from all over the word that is so distressing. Every news report, scroll, inbox news letter from some well meaning person telling us what we need to do to ‘heal ourselves’ firing it up again and again without really understanding what is happening to us. We are being ‘cooked’ and all this is able to do is switch on the flight, fright or freeze mechanism in our Central Nervous System. For some of us in this part of the world, (I am writing from the UK) there is no apparent, visible, immediate danger so this chemical hormonal cocktail just cycles itself over and over again inside our systems. We have trouble sleeping, we may need caffeine to to keep it switched on, alcohol to switch it off, it is so exhausting. Dangerously, we may also sensor ourselves, not wanting to speak up about what we are really feeling, what worries us because it cant be heard the way we need it to be by acquaintances. Perhaps we can’t hear each other out because we are all dealing with our own heightened state. The body needs care right now - this will be different for each one of us it may be breathing, gentle outdoor time, meditation, music, dance, singing, exercise, yoga….. There are many reasons for us not to feel safe right now and fear is a dangerous place for man to lead from. I was brought to wonder about actual danger - just before fear emerges. What if there was no time to be fearful but rather only time to act? I suspect it requires fast thinking, focused minds and rolling up our sleeves. Pretty difficult in the noisy conversations taking us away from our true instincts and what could be our natural gestures on behalf of life. Where these gestures come from our love of life and the uncertainty that they will make a difference but doing them anyway. The therapy ams to turn down the nouse of fear and anger and listen to what the humanity in us longs for and what we can offer.   I offer three free sessions through the Climate Psychology Alliance. You can access that information here (https://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/index.php/component/content/article/one-to-one-therapeutic-support?catid=13&Itemid=101) as well as a list of therapists offering the same. The Climate Psychology Alliance website clearly puts into words the value of speaking about our feelings: ‘….we increasingly need to talk about what our changing world means for us in terms of impacts at personal, family and societal level. To have these practical conversations many of us need first to be supported in exploring some complex feelings and thoughts which may often be taboo and hard to talk about. With sturdy enough support structures in place, most people can sustain challenging feelings without either dissociating and numbing or going into blind panic. They can engage with difficult truths whilst staying connected and grounded. This does not apply to everyone, of course, - there are many people who are able to park this predicament elsewhere, outside of their psyches and not pay it the attention that some of us cannot help doing. These perspectives are just as much a part of the collective human story in this moment as any others and all are welcome.