In a recent review published in the journal NPJ Mental Health Research, researchers conducted a scoping review to assess the impacts of climate change on global mental and psychosocial health. They further investigate the outcomes of studies introducing unique interventions or intervention packages aimed at blunting or reversing these impacts. Their scrutiny of more than 5,000 potentially relevant publications revealed 40 studies investigating the associations between mental health and climate change. Review findings revealed 37 unique intervention regimes that act across social system levels from microsystems to macrosystems.
The present review highlights the novelty of this field of research, with a majority of included interventions not (yet) being formally evaluated within a robust scientific framework. Nonetheless, preliminary intervention results are promising, especially when applied to low- and middle-income countries disproportionally affected by climate change. Despite extensive scaled-up clinical trials being required before some of these interventions become public health recommendations, this review summarizes scientists’ progress in the field and the basis for further research against mental health disability.