Global warming also has an impact on mental health. The Austrian Society for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics (ÖGPP) draws attention to this at its 24th annual conference. Current data shows a direct connection between suicidality and temperature rises.
Social and economic factors, therefore, have a direct influence on psychological well-being. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report, these risk factors currently appear to worsen due to climate change. This is reflected in an increase in psychiatric problems.
“Current data shows a direct connection between suicidality and temperature rises. Even an increase of one degree correlates with a significant increase in suicidal behavior,” psychiatrist Margit Wrobel was quoted as saying in a press release from the ÖGPP.
The heat waves that have occurred in recent years also have an impact on mental health; it was said concerning study data that there is an increased number of visits to psychiatric facilities or inpatient admissions during the heat periods. The increase in ambient temperature now being observed appears to influence mental health via various mechanisms.
Change in serotonin levels
For example, the body’s physiological reactions can lead to a change in serotonin levels, and lack of sleep, in turn, directly influences cognitive functions. Social consequences due to climate change are also relevant; increased aggression or alcohol consumption due to economic stress factors were mentioned.
“We not only need a health policy framework that directly takes into account the effects of climate change on our mental health, but above all we also need to actively protect particularly vulnerable groups in our society,” Martin Aigner, President of the ÖGPP, was quoted as saying. The scientific analysis of current health data has shown that psychiatric patients, in particular, must be counted among a particularly vulnerable group.
