Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Psychologists meeting at the International Summit on Psychology and Global Health event in Lisbon have decided to do everything possible to promote behaviours which help address the climate crisis.
Proclamation
“We, representatives of national and international psychological organizations in attendance at the Lisbon Inaugural International Summit on Psychology’s Contributions to Global Health, are committed to ongoing collaboration in the application of psychological science to jointly advance progress on critical global issues, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Our commitment of professional, scientific, educational, cultural, and applied resources will be directed to advancing those issues and Goals for which psychology offers the greatest contribution.
Our initial efforts will be focused on Sustainable Development Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Our mutual work on applications of psychological science to climate change will also provide a framework and model for future collaboration focused on proposals to address critical global issues”.
DRAFT RESOLUTION
“WHEREAS there is overwhelming agreement among climate scientists that climate crisis poses a serious global threat, is occurring faster than previously anticipated, and is caused in part by human behavior;
WHEREAS the resistance of some individuals worldwide to accept evidence of climate crisis reflects a variety of psychological, social, economic, and political factors, including misunderstanding the relevant science; psychological threats of departing from the consensus view of one’s peer-group; deliberate exposure to misinformation; and concerns about financial losses stemming from addressing climate crisis;
WHEREAS current research and public communication on the impact of climate crisis have often emphasized the major physical damage caused by extreme weather, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and wildfires, and insufficiently addressed the increased displacement, migration, and conflict affecting those populations involved;
WHEREAS climate crisis has a disproportionate impact on already vulnerable groups with fewer resources, including low-income individuals or those who live in rural areas, people of color, women, children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities;
WHEREAS research shows that climate change-related events can result in major acute and chronic adverse mental health outcomes, including stress, trauma, and shock; post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of anxiety; depression; and substance use disorder, which have been a secondary consideration in climate change communication and action;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that our psychology organizations will advocate for and support international and cross-disciplinary collaboration to mitigate and facilitate adaptation to climate crisis.
We will inform our respective members and the public about climate crisis, emphasizing scientific research and consensus on its causes and short- and long-term harms, and the need for immediate personal and societal action;
We will encourage our members and other mental health leaders to be vocal advocates concerning the necessary preparatory and responsive adaptations to climate crisis and to invest more in research and practice is this area;
We will advocate for Universities and other entities could include formation on societal challenges and, particularly, climate crisis for psychologists and other mental health professionals;
We will increase the availability of services and supportive interventions to help minimize harm to mental health and well-being, especially among vulnerable populations, and increase community resilience;
We will advocate for the rights of those most susceptible to the negative health, and mainly, mental health impacts of climate crisis, for example, by encouraging policymakers to fully fund programs to aid those who suffer harm from severe climate crisis-related events;
We will support the development of a public awareness campaign to encourage individuals and communities to adopt behaviors to help prepare for and recover from gradual climate change and acute climate crisis events;
We will encourage governmental, educational, health, and corporate leaders to use more psychological science in police designs as well as to adopt norms, values, and policy to promote sustainable preventive and corrective behaviors in individuals, groups and communities“.
PROCLAMATION ON COLLABORATION SIGNED BY
American Psychological Association, Order of Portuguese Psychologists, Australian Psychological Society, Bahamas Psychological Association, Brazilian Society of Psychology, British Psychological Society, Canandian Psychological Association, Caribbean Alliance of National Psychological Associations, Chinese Psychological Society, Asian Psychological Assocation, College of Psychologists of Peru, Colombian College of Psychologists, Cuban Society of Health Psychology, Cuban Society of Psychology, European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations, Flemish Association for Clinical Psychologists, German Psychological Society, Guatemala College of Psychologists, International Association of Applied Psychology, International Council of Psychologists, International Union of Psychological Science, Jamaican Psychological Society, Japanese Psychological Association, Jordanian Clinical Psychologists Association, Lebanese Psychological Association, Mexican Psychological Society, National Psychological Association of Ukraine, New Zealand Psychological Society, Nicaraguan Association for the Development of Psychology, Nigerian Psychological Association, Norwegian Psychological Association, Order of Psychologists of Albania, Pan-African Psychology Union, Psychological Association of Namibia, Psychological Society of Kenya, Seoul National University, Spanish Psychological Association, Sri Lanka Psychological Association, Swedish Psychological Association, Uganda Council of Psychologists, Uruguayan Psychological Association and Zanzibar Professional Counselors Association.
Source: https://www.psychologyandglobalhealth.org
The American Psychological Association press release is available here.
I hope this proclamation is just empty words, because it is horrifying to consider the possibility a distressed person seeking help from a psychology professional might have their trust abused by a climate fanatic.
APA flunks the Giordano Bruno test.
What did ‘The Climate” do to Tuvalu and the Maldives?
in 7 years ..?
in 14 years ..?
in 21 years ..?
Nothing.
Those psychologists must be Nuts!
You would think psychologists would have studied mass hysteria and know it when they see it. Guess not.
“Our mutual work on applications of psychological science“
O the irony!
They claim their profession is a “science” and yet can say:
“emphasizing scientific research and consensus
They are clearly betting the farm on the “consensus” of other professions, and not doing any research themselves, whether it be on the reality of a Climate Emergency, or whether there really is a consensus among those in fields who have the appropriate expertise.
(Isn’t there at least one psychologist who read the details of the Doran/Zimmerman study or looked at the the absurd experimental design of one of their own (Lewandowsky) ?
This is an appropriate followup example of the consequences of the recent post on Post Modern Science; combining science with activism and policy making, and not letting uncertainty get in your way.
“We will encourage governmental, educational, health, and corporate leaders to use more psychological science in police designs as well as to adopt norms, values, and policy to promote sustainable preventive and corrective behaviors in individuals, groups and communities.”
What on earth does this mean? I seriously have no idea, but it sounds Orwellian.
The phrase “Physician, heal thyself”, comes to mind.
Get back to us when you’re less hypocritical and can be taken seriously.
My diagnosis, they are nucking futs.
I know this is difficult to understand, so please forgive all the technical jargon.
And just like that, suicide became clinically sane.
Psychologists were always crazier than their patients. Now, they’ve crossed to the dark side. They would make dictators proud. Thriving on cruelty and power. Evil to the core.
The Canadian Order of Shrinks must have missed the plane. Yeah, if you are sick and don’t buy into the New Clime Inquisition goals, we have a hydraulic rack that offers 100% cure.
Stephan Lewandowski must be so excited about the new APA whereases as to have to change his clothes several times a day.
Climate change denial is apparently a new mental process for concerned and compassionate psychologists to consider, diagnose, and perhaps treat.
Stephan L. may well be first in line to head up the new hospital for sequestration and treatment of the new Psycho DSM-6 climate deniophrenia sufferers. After all, he knows so much about it.
With all due respect to psychologists (which ain’t much), what you have here is a pretty clear case of one of the least credible academic disciplines trying to snuggle up to one of the most difficult (physics), in a desperate attempt to crawl out of the same mosh-pit as gender studies.
Most psychologists wouldn’t recognize “good statistics” if it bit ’em in the ass (which is also highly likely to be wrapped around their head). Now that somebody has actually dared to go back & check, supposedly seminal findings are being blown out of the water in a shower of non-reproducibility.
And these “climate science” psychologists all want to be the uber “climate science” Goebbels.
It is all politics and not science. According to science, the climate change that we have been experiencing is very small and is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. Despite the hype, there is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and there is plenty of scientific rationale to support the idea that the climate sensitivity of CO2 is zero.
There is no consensus regarding the validity of the AGW conjecture. Scientists have never registered and voted on the matter. But even if they had the results would be meaningless because science is not a democracy. The laws of science are not some sort of legislation. Scientific theories are not validated by a voting process.
The AGW conjecture at first sounds plausible but upon closer inspection one finds that the AGW conjecture is based on only partial science and is full of holes. For example, the AGW conjecture depends upon the existence of a radiant greenhouse effect caused by trace gases in the Earth’s atmosphere with LWIR absorption bands. Such a radiant greenhouse effect has not been observed in a real greenhouse, in the Earth’s atmosphere, or on any planet in the solar system with a thick atmosphere. The radiant greenhouse effect is nothing but science fiction hence the AGW conjecture is nothing but science fiction as well. So what these psychological organizations want to do is all based on science fiction and not science. There is no consensus and there is not climate crisis.
“WHEREAS the resistance of some individuals worldwide to accept evidence of climate crisis reflects a variety of psychological, social, economic, and political factors, including misunderstanding the relevant science”
Watts the problem? The statement is accurate. The only question remains: what group are they talking about?
M
Good point, Michael. These psychologists could just as easily be describing themselves.
What’s the psychological description of someone who sees something that is not there? It seems this psychological association is seeing something that is not visible, namely, human-caused climate change. They are assuming things not in evidence. Do you want to be diagnosed by one of these people? Not me. I’ll do the diagnosing! 🙂
“……..it is horrifying to consider the possibility a distressed person seeking help from a psychology professional might have their trust abused by a climate fanatic……….”
It’s even worse to consider the possibility a perfectly sane person being brainwashed by a psychology professional with the aim of turning them into a climate fanatic…….
All those whereases. They don’t know their whereas from a hole in the ground.
Wackazoid, heal thyself. These are the same people that decided homosexuality was not an abnormality.
Before choosing a therapist, you have a right to ask if he’s an APA member and if he endorses the statement. Get a Jungian. If you can find one, choose a Republican.
If ANY professions cannot recognize “science” it’s Psychology and Sociology. You talk about a bunch of clowns pretending to be researchers. So they have took it upon themselves to explain the physics behind climate change? Good luck with that.
WHEREAS the possibly-pseudo science of psychology is affected by the same disease that blights many other dIsciplines, that it is not the brightest who become psychologists, etc. etc. ….
They think they’re our designated drovers.
Psychologists anthem …
The “proclamation” is of course nothing but a bunch of bafflegab, dressed up in legalese for that “official” look, all to basically say that they are joining the globaloney/climachangey bandwagon. Well, what took them so long? I guess they felt they had nothing to lose, and everything to gain by it. Odd timing though, with the Climate quasi-cult/religion/ideology ready to go the way of the Dodo.
Where they should have stopped: “….facilitate adaptation to climate…” Even then they are out of their purview.
“THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that our psychology organizations will advocate for and support international and cross-disciplinary collaboration to mitigate and facilitate adaptation to climate crisis.”
“One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small. And the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all.”
(“White Rabbit,” Jefferson Airplane, 1967)
“We will inform our respective members and the public about climate crisis, emphasizing scientific research and consensus on its causes and short- and long-term harms, and the need for immediate personal and societal action;”
It figures as there’s big bucks treating depression and anxiety so us Big Oil types can presumably discount Big Heads and Big Quacks accordingly –
https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/doctors-obliged-to-speak-on-climate-risk/news-story/5820948667ed2394d7ae8f2bcbeecc31
File under irony. A textbook example of mass hysteria right in front of them, but they want to use psychology to support the mass hysteria rather than cure it.