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- ☁️🍄 Issue No. 026: Feeling the Heat
☁️🍄 Issue No. 026: Feeling the Heat
say hello to climate-aware psychiatry
This issue is brought to you by
Hello, hello, and a very happy welcome back to Headlines. Great to see you all again.
As summer hits its stride, I hope you’re all staying cool out there. I’ve migrated home from the blustery hills of SF back to the East Bay, and it’s definitely getting toasty in the ‘burbs. 🥵 On that note…
FEELING THE HEAT
The health of our inner landscape is inextricable from the health of our outer landscape.
And as pollution and climate change increasingly degrade our environment, the psychological impacts are becoming impossible to ignore.
AN INCONVENIENT MOOD
Psychologists have long observed the mental impacts of climate change. From increased violent crimes to soaring rates of suicide, extreme weather takes an undeniable toll on our emotional well-being.
In particular, populations already struggling with mental health disorders are vulnerable:
In 2021, an extreme heat dome scorched the Pacific Northwest; individuals with schizophrenia were 3x more likely to perish than during a typical week.
A study of over 2M medical visits saw emergency psychiatric treatment rates spike during hot spells, burdening healthcare systems.
A decades-long study tracking long-term exposure to air pollutants found increased occurrences of anxiety and depression in nearly 400K adults in the UK.
Hot temperatures can also turn mental health meds against patients. Lithium, for example, a commonly used bipolar disorder treatment, turns toxic when patients are dehydrated.
The sick get sicker. Making matters worse, marginalized communities in “sacrifice zones” disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental hazards from industrial activity.
It’s so over. Meanwhile, the impact of climate anxiety and ecological grief is widespread and growing among Gen Z and millennials — even affecting how we dream. A global survey of 10K young people found that nearly half said climate-related distress influences their daily lives.
SEEDING RESILIENCE
As our planet warms, organizations at the intersection of climate and psychiatry are forming across the country, founded on a common belief: Psychology can help us not only process and understand the climate crisis but also actually do something about it.
Climate change, after all, has been largely catalyzed by human behavior. And understanding human behavior—how emotions play a key role in the success or failure of social action—is psychiatry’s realm of expertise.
Id, eco, and supereco. This is the driving belief behind the Climate Psychology Alliance, which is conducting research into climate denial, disavowal, eco-distress, and the psychological impact of climate change related disasters.
Along similar lines, the Climate Psychiatry Alliance is a network of psychiatrists united in their mission to assure optimal mental health for all through the prevention and mitigation of climate change’s impacts.
Other institutions doing work in this realm include the International Transformational Resilience Coalition (IRTC) and Generative Somatics.
At Utrecht University, Dr. Joost Vervoort is exploring how embodied experiences can engender a sense of wonder and connection to the planet while inspiring action.
Beyond psychological approaches, climate solutions themselves buoy public mental health, too.
Solutions to unhealthy urban living have twin benefits; whether reducing air pollution or adding more green spaces, what’s good for the Earth tends to be good for our psyche.
Regenerative agriculture sequesters carbon while nourishing microbial soils, and a healthy gut is tied to lessened anxiety and depression.
LOOKING AHEAD
Navigating this unprecedented era requires a careful equilibrium — urgency yet groundedness, action without panic. In this respect, the mental health field is uniquely equipped to strike this balance, says Leslie Davenport, licensed therapist and writer of Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change..
“So much of what we’re trained in… is to break through denial, to work with grief, to motivate life-style changes, to facilitate contentious conversations.”
Punchline: Seemingly disparate fields, the mental health world could make a powerful impact in the fight against climate change; its patients are often also the most afflicted.
A growing movement, climate-aware psychiatry can help us sit with distress while breaking through inaction, to process eco-grief without engulfment, and motivate change without overwhelm. It’s a field that deserves far more attention, resources, and talent.
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QUICK HITS
Late shroomer. Why it has taken psychedelics so long to catch on.
Closer look. From Kernel’s Bryan Johnson: what the brain looks like on ketamine.
Pet and setting. Say hello (or give a paw) to your next trip sitter — your dog.
For the soul. Psilocybin as a treatment for anorexia shows promise in early trials.
Mind the gap. The Biden Administration proposes sweeping changes to improve mental healthcare access.
State of affairs. Behind the $5B proposed initiative to fund and boost psychedelics research in CA.
Seeds of change. Minneapolis makes psychedelic criminalization the city’s “lowest law enforcement priority.”
Screen time. Too much media before a trip reduces the mystical and emotional qualities of the experience.
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NEWS & TRENDS
1) I’m game
Mental health games are getting a boost. This week, Arcade Therapeutics and UT Austin announced a $3.8M grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to test the efficacy of ABM-02, Arcade's game-based digital therapeutic for major depressive disorder. Another DTx startup using games to help detect and diagnose mental illness, the UK’s Thymia raised a €3.5M ($3.8M) seed round.
Video games, you say? While gaming has long carried stigma, the tide is shifting as researchers and startups unlock its potential as an accessible, engaging, and effective mental health treatment. The global digital therapeutics market is projected to surpass $17B by 2027, and video game approaches are bringing innovation to conditions like depression, ADHD, and anxiety. As solutions advance, "play therapy" could soon take on a whole new meaning.
2) Apple’s earful
It’s official — the tech giant has just received the green light for a patent to deck out AirPods with a sweeping spread of health tracking sensors, from brain waves via EEG to muscle moves through EMG, eye flutters with EOG, and even your heart rate.
The provisional patent application was filed in Jan. 2022, completed in Jan. 2023, and published late last week. What does it mean? Well, it’s just the latest play in Apple’s bid to become the player in mental and physical well-being, which has been steadily picking up momentum in recent months.
DEALS & DEBUTS
☁️ Headspace secured a $105M senior debt facility from Oxford Finance. The funds will be used to support expansion of the company’s mental health platform, as well as make strategic investments in areas of perceived market need.→ source
👪 UnitedHealthcare is investing $11.1M in grants to 66 nonprofits across 12 states to support those struggling with social isolation, behavioral health, food insecurity, and more. → source
💡 Wisdom Ventures, a fund aiming to promote mindfulness, compassion, and well-being, raised $10M to support tech that facilitates human connection.→ source
🤖 MultiPlatform.ai, a Hong Kong Polytechnic University initiative utilizing AI for mental health solutions, notched HK$37 ($5M) in funding.→ source
🤖 ReflexAI, an AI startup focused on helping high-stakes call centers across crisis response, 911 dispatch, and healthcare, raised $3.3M in funding led by Footwork.→ source
🧠 Hubly Surgical, a neurosurgical care startup, raised $3M in an oversubscribed funding round following FDA clearance.→ source
🍄 Fluence and Phaneros Institute have entered into a partnership to further psychedelic therapy training in Brazil, boosting accessibility and quality of care in the region.→ source
🚬 Pelago, a virtual substance use management platform (formerly Quit Genius), is expanding its platform to include adolescents.→ source
WHAT I’M READING
Mystifying. “I think it’s rather a beautiful revenge that after decades of science killing off spirituality, we find that at the core of the healing process of psychologically based illnesses like depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and existential suffering is the Mystical Experience.”→ The Trip Report
Thanks for hanging this week! So good to be back. And a big thank you to all who checked in on my health. Grateful to be doing lots better. :)
Same time next week? See you then.
-Mel