American Psychiatric Association Publishing Handbook of Climate Psychiatry and Psychotherapy: A Manual for Clinicians

The results of climate change—more frequent and intense storms, extreme heat, and prolonged wildfire seasons, among others—are leaving a wreckage of socioeconomic consequences for society and future generations. Increasingly, attention is shifting to the neuropsychiatric damage and emotional effects of the climate crisis, including traumas, anxiety, grief, and rage. Although a number of books have been written in response, they have largely been aimed at the layperson; none have been written by physicians to support the day-to-day work of psychiatrists as they address these symptoms and struggles with their patients. The Handbook of Climate Psychiatry and Psychotherapy has been written to fill this gap, putting everything the mental health clinician needs to know in one place. It provides the science and guidance needed for the psychiatric and psychological response to climate change in a format accessible to office- or clinic-based mental health clinicians, including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and allied professionals. Divided into four sections, this volume includes An introduction to climate justice, and the ethics and public health activities of engaging climate change as a psychiatrist An examination of the neuropsychiatric impacts of climate effects such as extreme heat, air pollution, vector-borne illness and food and water insecurity Practical guidance on performing climate-informed patient assessments and psychotherapy interventions at individual and group levels A review of the community, global, institutional, research, and educational aspects of climate psychiatry Designed for maximum utility for the busy clinician, this guide features compelling case vignettes, handy tables, and key points in each chapter. Readers will gain practical tools to assess and address each patient's symptoms and to foster the innate resilience that can lead to positive change.