Death, the environment, and theology

Pihkala, Panu Petteri

doi:10.1111/dial.12437

Cited by 18 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Such effects hold true even among people who do not espouse environmental values, which shows that one need not be an environmentalist or even, necessarily, believe in climate crisis to be subconsciously affected by eco-anxiety (Akil et al, 2018). The empirical evidence that people enact almost identical terror-management defenses in response to both mortality-and climate-crisis-salience bolsters what psychologists such as Panu Pihkala (2018) and Anoushka Grose (2020) have asserted: Eco-anxiety is a form of death anxiety. This is not to suggest that everyone is always experiencing eco-anxiety.…”

Section: Terror Management and The Apocalypsementioning

confidence: 96%

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Eco-Apocalypse: An Existential Approach to Accepting Eco-Anxiety

Guthrie

2022

Perspect Psychol Sci

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Climate crisis presents a near-term existential threat to the human species, one that society has neither the physical nor psychological infrastructure to manage. Eco-anxiety increases as awareness about climate crisis spreads. Despite an urgent need for resources on how to help people cope with the psychological ramifications of climate crisis, there is little literature that both addresses people’s apocalyptic fears and takes the scientific bases of those fears seriously. In this article, I synthesize research on existential psychology, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, grief, and end-of-life care to present an original perspective on how people, individually and collectively, can become psychologically resilient to climate crisis. First, I establish that death anxiety underlies eco-anxiety. Second, I demonstrate that preparing psychologically for eco-apocalypse requires people to cultivate death acceptance. Finally, I illustrate how commitment to palliative values can enable people to live rich and meaningful lives despite their most likely imminent end.

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Section: Terror Management and The Apocalypsementioning

confidence: 96%

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Eco-Apocalypse: An Existential Approach to Accepting Eco-Anxiety

Guthrie

2022

Perspect Psychol Sci

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“…Common to the cognitive behavioural (Gifford, 2011), existential (Dickinson, 2009; Langford, 2002; Pienaar, 2011; Pihkala, 2018a, 2018b; Solomon et al., 2004), psychoanalytic and psychosocial literature on the subject of climate change‐induced distress (Adams, 2016; Bednarek, 2018; Foster, 2019; Hoggett, 2019; Randall, 2009; Roszak, 1995; Rust, 2008; Searles, 1972; Weintrobe, 2013) is the view that climate change can evoke powerful feelings and experiences that culminate in responses that are either ecologically adaptive or maladaptive. There is consensus across the literature explored that maladaptive responses can act as psychological barriers to pro‐environment behaviours that would otherwise mitigate climate change.…”

Section: Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The intricacies of what therapists need to be concerned about and some ideas on how to work in this space are considered in literature on this subject (Bednarek, 2018; Clayton et al., 2017; Macy & Johnstone, 2012; Pienaar, 2011; Pihkala, 2018a; Randall, 2005; Rust, 2008). However, guidance for therapists on the work of therapy itself that will support clients in the ‘climate crisis’ experience remains relatively scarce and segregated within particular theoretical frameworks.…”

Section: Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Therapists’ experience of climate change: A dialectic between personal and professional

Silva

Coburn

2022

Couns and Psychother Res

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Background Humankind is facing extraordinary existential uncertainties. Therapists are mobilised with urgency in response to the emotional and psychological needs of clients at the onset of the COVID‐19 global pandemic. At the same time, individuals and communities have been and are ever‐increasingly impacted by the seemingly inexorable climate and biodiversity crisis, yet the response of the profession is negligible. Objective To explore therapists’ experiences of climate change, particularly the dialectic between the ‘personal’ and the ‘professional’ and its implications for professional practice. Method Eight therapists participated in semi‐structured, qualitative interviews. Verbatim transcripts and emergent themes were then subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) using a pluralistic theoretical frame including existential, psychoanalytic and psychosocial thinking. Results It was found that therapists’ personal experiences of climate change were complex and profound, as were their clients'. Therapists’ sense of feeling ill‐equipped to support clients in the climate crisis was indicated. Conclusion Findings suggest it is imperative that professional bodies and training institutions provide leadership and guidance to therapists that enables them to support clients, and themselves, facing potentially dire climate crisis realities. The present study points to a need for professional practice and the work with clients ‘in the room’, therapeutically, to incorporate attention to existential concerns and unconscious processes, by necessity underpinned by therapists’ self‐awareness of their own processes existing in parallel with the clients'. This study also strongly indicated the need to conceptualise clients and therapy itself within social, economic, cultural and political contexts.

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“…The author has in his studies pointed out that the existential theologian Paul Tillich had much ecotheological content in his works and also briefly discussed some aspects of eco-anxiety, especially the shame and horror which can be related to realizing how strongly humankind has damaged the more-than-human world (see Pihkala 2018aPihkala , 2018bPihkala 2020b;Tillich 1963). The author also pointed out that the three major aspects of Tillich's view of existential anxiety all apply strongly to eco-anxiety.…”

Section: The Existential Depth Of Eco-anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…109-28). The author has himself written about the connections between ecotheology, death, and eco-anxiety (Pihkala 2018b).…”

Section: The Existential Depth Of Eco-anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco-Anxiety and Pastoral Care: Theoretical Considerations and Practical Suggestions

Pihkala

2022

Religions

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The environmental crisis is producing an increasing number of both physical and psychological impacts. This article studies the challenge of eco-anxiety for pastoral care, drawing from both interdisciplinary research and ecological theology. The aim is to help both practitioners and researchers to encounter eco-anxiety more constructively. The rapidly growing research about eco-anxiety and therapy is discussed in relation to pastoral care. The various forms of eco-anxiety are briefly analyzed. The role of the caregivers is discussed by using sources that study the challenges of therapists in relation to eco-anxiety. The existential depths of eco-anxiety are probed in the light of recent research and older existentialist theory. It is pointed out that the political character of ecological issues, especially climate change issues, causes many kinds of challenges for pastoral care. As the constructive conclusion of the article, various possibilities and resources for encountering eco-anxiety in pastoral care are discussed, along with the connections with wider pastoral theology. It is argued that pastoral care providers should engage in self-reflection about their own attitudes and emotions related to ecological issues, preferably with the support of trusted peers or mentors. Various organizational developments are also needed to support caregivers. Dialectical thinking is one tool that can help to navigate the complex dynamics related to environmental responsibility, eco-emotions, and questions of hope or hopelessness.

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Death, the environment, and theology

Cited by 18 publications

References 26 publications

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Eco-Apocalypse: An Existential Approach to Accepting Eco-Anxiety

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Eco-Apocalypse: An Existential Approach to Accepting Eco-Anxiety

Therapists’ experience of climate change: A dialectic between personal and professional

Eco-Anxiety and Pastoral Care: Theoretical Considerations and Practical Suggestions

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