The array of social and environmental threats currently facing us is frightening . That these threats are all connected to each other – and to each of us personally – is overwhelming. How can we cope?In our contemporary industrial ‘mental environment’ coping can be both healthy – encouraging action to reduce risks, or unhealthy – encouraging us to find ways to pretend the risks aren’t real – to ‘dumb them down’.
Commonly, individuals and social groups use a variety of psychological coping strategies, often in subtle combinations, including for example:
denial: “What crisis?” Easier to pretend it’s not happening that to take action.
dismissal / ‘relativistic reinterpreting’: “It’s not that bad.” / “If we can survive a world war then…”
escapism: “I’m off to the pub”
attribution: “It’s not my problem, it’s up to the [government / big business / mass media / investors / consumers / China / India / the Americans / rich people] – delete as appropriate”
overwhelm: “OMG, we’re all going to die”
nihilism: “I just don’t care”
eco-anorexia: A cycle of extreme acts of environmentalism followed by complete emotional burn-out (‘starvation’)
eco-bulimia: A cycle of extreme acts of environmentalism, followed by extreme consumerism (‘bingeing’)
These coping strategies often appear to work to alleviate anxiety in the short-term but become increasingly difficult to maintain as the real source of the problem gets worse. This can translate into a downward spiral of anxiety and guilt, which leads to apathy – or sometimes to serious and debilitating psychopathology. Either way, the outcome is avoidance of the root problem.
The way to get beyond shallow coping strategies – and be able to engage with root problems effectively – is to learn how to embrace and integrate difficult emotions in a healthy way. This can be done by acknowledging our emotional responses to the threats we face openly, honestly and with courage. Finding supportive social situations to share our emotions is an essential part of a healthy coping process.
Without engaging with our deepest feelings, any behaviour change programme will at best be shallow and temporary.
