Health Talk: Exploring the triangle - solastalgia, climate change, mental health

Study consistently found positive links between solastalgia, mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD, somatisation caused by psychological distress

Solastalgia—distress caused by changes to one’s home or environment and linked to depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—may explain climate change’s impact on mental health, a study published by the journal BMJ Mental Health on Tuesday said.

The studies were carried out in Australia, Germany, Peru, and the USA, and involved a total of over 5,000 participants. (Representative photo)

What does the word mean? The authors explain that the term is a blend of the words ‘solace’ and ‘nostalgia’, and was first coined in 2003 to refer to the lack of solace and feelings of pain or sickness caused by changes in a person’s immediate or surrounding environment.

Several scales have since been developed and validated to measure solastalgia, but the extent to which it might contribute to the effects of climate change on mental health isn’t known, they said.

To explore this further, the authors said they scoured research databases for studies on solastalgia and mental health published between 2003 and 2024. Out of an initial haul of 80, 19 were eligible for inclusion in the review: five quantitative studies in the core search; 14 qualitative studies in the extended search.

The studies were carried out in Australia, Germany, Peru, and the USA, and involved a total of over 5,000 participants.

The study findings of the core search consistently showed positive associations between solastalgia and mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, and somatisation—physical symptoms caused or worsened by psychological distress.

To add, they said the extended search backed up these findings, with qualitative studies suggesting that solastalgia is a very useful concept to understand the emotional responses of people affected by environmental change, including pessimism and lowered resilience.

“These findings are in line with the literature on positive links between environmental distress more generally and mental ill health. Notably, solastalgia is one of several eco-emotions, such as eco-anxiety, eco-grief, or eco-shame/-guilt, which might be important in explaining mental health problems arising from ecological crises,” pointed out the researchers in the review.

The paper seems to suggest that solastalgia might either be more intense or salient in scenarios of ongoing environmental destruction as opposed to one-time events, or in scenarios which are clearly human-made and not attributable to any other causes (e.g., the weather instead of climate change).

“This notion fits in well with long-standing evidence in trauma research, according to which interpersonal traumas are most likely to cause PTSD. One plausible explanation for the link between solastalgia and mental health problems lies in the theory of learned helplessness, which suggests that depressive symptoms stem from a perceived loss of control and resulting powerlessness,” they added.

“Indeed, studies have shown that solastalgia often involves feelings of helplessness and resignation, as environmental changes typically lie beyond the affected individual’s control.”

Going by the strong link shown in the study, it may seem like an issue that needs the attention of policymakers so that experts are pressed into action to look for effective solutions.