KORN KURATED RESEARCH

Does Engaging in Activism Reduce Our Despair?

A growing body of research has documented the phenomenon of Climate Change Anxiety, defined as negative cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses associated with concerns about the current environmental crisis. Engaging in collective action significantly reduced the association between Climate Change Anxiety and Major Depression. As a lifelong activist, I can attest that my activism counteracts the feelings of helplessness I experience when trying to effect change in a world that often feels out of control. Read more about this research in this mixed-method study.

Visit my library: Research in Integrative Medicine and Nutrition for Mental Health

My clients and students express to me daily their burnout and despair over the state of the world and their fears for the future. It is not only our anxiety or depression, or even climate change anxiety, that we feel as individuals, but that of our collective breaking heart.

Yet it is because we open our hearts to the suffering of others that we also need to transform these feelings into the fire of action, to stir this despair, depression, anxiety, and sense of helplessness in the cauldron of transmutation into activities and use this energy to repair the world.  We have long known as clinicians that volunteering and providing service is healing for people with PTSD. A recent study showed significant improvement in life satisfaction and self-perceived success in traumatic brain-injured patients following 3 months of volunteering.

Activism takes this a step further, and there is a growing body of research reinforcing activism as an antidote to despair: One research study found that engaging in collective action, but not individual action, significantly reduced the association between Climate Change Anxiety and major depression (Schwartz, 2022). 

However, numerous findings also identify that, over time, activists can be vulnerable to burnout and depression if they do not pace themselves, engage in self-care, eat well, move, and connect with active family members and friends. This suggests the nuanced approaches to our work as therapists to help activists sustain their work and their mental health for the long term.

Tags: Activism, agency, anxiety, climate change, depression, emerging adults

Interested in Learning More?

• Course(s): Mental Health Disorders
• Book(s): Rhythms of Recovery

Referenced Research Publications

Current Psychology
2024, February 28
DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-02735-6

Climate change anxiety and mental health: Environmental activism as buffer

Abstract

A growing body of research has documented the phenomenon of climate change anxiety (CCA), defined broadly as negative cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses associated with concerns about climate change. A recently validated scale of CCA indicated two subscales: cognitive emotional impairment and functional impairment (Clayton & Karazsia, 2020). However, there are few empirical studies on CCA to date and little evidence regarding whether CCA is associated with psychiatric symptoms, including symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and whether engaging in individual and collective action to address climate change could buffer such relationships. This mixed methods study draws on data collected from a sample of emerging adult students (ages 18-35) in the United States (N = 284) to address these gaps. Results indicated that both CCA subscales were significantly associated with GAD symptoms, while only the Functional Impairment subscale was associated with higher MDD symptoms. Moreover, engaging in collective action, but not individual action, significantly attenuated the association between CCA cognitive emotional impairment and MDD symptoms. Responses to open-ended questions asking about participants' worries and actions related to climate change indicated the severity of their worries and, for some, a perception of the insignificance of their actions relative to the enormity of climate change. These results further the field's understanding of CCA, both in general and specifically among emerging adults, and suggest the importance of creating opportunities for collective action to build a sense of agency in addressing climate change.

Reference

Schwartz, S. E. O., Benoit, L., Clayton, S., Parnes, M. F., Swenson, L., & Lowe, S. R. (2022). Climate change anxiety and mental health: Environmental activism as buffer. Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.), 1–14.

Brain Injury
2021, November 29
DOI: 10.1080/02699052.2020.1752937

Improving well-being after traumatic brain injury through volunteering: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a novel intervention facilitating volunteer activity to improve well-being in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Randomized two-arm controlled trial, with a wait-list control condition. Setting: Community-based setting. Participants: Seventy-four community-dwelling individuals at least 1-year post TBI, who had completed inpatient or outpatient TBI rehabilitation. Interventions: A novel intervention, HOPE – Helping Others through Purpose and Engagement, involving orientation/training and a 3-month volunteer placement for the participant, along with training for community agencies regarding TBI. Main outcome measure(s): Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS); Flourishing Scale (FS); Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18); Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE); Purpose in Life subscale (one of six in the Ryff Scale of Psychological Well-Being – 54 item version). Results: There were significantly greater improvements in life satisfaction (SWLS) and self-perceived success (FS) in the intervention group compared to the control group. There were no significant treatment effects on the additional secondary measures of well-being, although they trended in a positive direction. Conclusions: This study supports our primary hypothesis that individuals who take part in a volunteer intervention will demonstrate greater psychological well-being in comparison to a control group.

Reference

Payne, L., Hawley, L., Morey, C., Ketchum, J. M., Philippus, A., Sevigny, M., Harrison-Felix, C., & Diener, E. (2020). Improving well-being after traumatic brain injury through volunteering: a randomized controlled trial. Brain injury, 34(6), 697–707. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2020.1752937