5 - (SYM 12) Climate Therapy Interventions and Intervention Research

There is a need for evidence-based interventions for addressing climate change related awareness, distress, and motivation in the therapy room. This in turn requires frameworks for integrating the experience of larger social and environmental threats and concerns into person-level treatment and conceptualization. In this presentation, we (1) describe outcomes of a randomized trial of a novel online course for building sustainable well-being in the face of the climate crisis built on the tenets of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and systems thinking, (2) layout a framework for combining therapy for eco and climate concerns with cognitive behavior therapy grounded in the latest climate mental health research, and (3) outline future research and clinical needs related to feasibility and impact.

Using a randomized crossover repeated measures research design to assess pre and post effects, quantitative results indicated that participating in the online course led to significant reductions in eco-anxiety and improvements in hedonic well-being, but did not lead to significant improvements in eudaimonic well-being or pro-environmental behavior. Qualitative results indicated that participants found the course engaging and useful, particularly content related to values-exploration and emotional regulation.

Using the results of the intervention as a foundation, discussion will note the potential challenges and benefits of different research and intervention designs for the treatment of climate distress in research and clinical work, including the tradeoffs related to generalized vs individualized treatment designs and intensity of treatment. We will present several potential frameworks for understanding the relationship between cognitive and behavioral approaches and ecotherapy. These integrate knowledge from environmental social science, counseling and psychotherapy  and include the concepts of environmental identity and sustainable-wellbeing; lifespan developmental perspectives; eco-socio-political awareness and diversity; therapeutic alliance and collaborative goal setting; and contextual behavioral therapy.