Climate change may affect mental health

From NaturalNews:

According to some leading mental health experts, the negative health effects associated with climate change will be most experienced by those with mental illnesses. Drs. Lisa Page and Louise Howard from the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) published an article in Psychological Medicine that examined research on the subject and came to their own conclusion that not only will climate change negatively affect the mentally ill but it will also cause more mental illness.

Study authors claim that climate change will lead to increased natural disasters like major storms, droughts, and hurricanes. As a result, people will become more depressed and experience various disorders and mental problems if they don't have them already.

Since resources are expected to be limited following major catastrophic events, the authors also fear that the mentally ill will not receive the treatments they need because efforts will be diverted towards the many whom will be experiencing trauma due to the catastrophe. Other concerns include that the mentally ill will not cope well with higher temperatures because they are more prone to heat-related death.

For those that are not mentally ill, it is feared that various mental illnesses could develop due to infectious disease outbreaks, mass migration because of flooding, increased urbanization, and even just thinking about the concept of man-made climate change possibly wreaking havoc.

Study authors fear that international leaders will fail to address these issues at the upcoming United Nations conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where climate change issues are expected to be discussed and solutions presented.