Eco-anxiety. Constructing the term in psychology and psychotherapy. A Foucauldian discourse analysis

As the effects of climate change continue to be prominently felt and observed, scholars are highlighting its impact on human mental health. An example of this is evident through the recent rise in academic and public discussions on eco-anxiety, a term widely used to describe the emotional impact of the environmental crisis. However, while interdisciplinary studies continue to research and classify this emerging phenomenon, its implications as a psychological construct remain relatively unexamined.

The present study presents a critique of the processes through which eco-anxiety is legitimised within the Western psychological theory and therapeutic practice. By critically examining its discursive socio-political landscape and implications of its construction as a taken-for-granted psychological phenomenon, this study aims to demonstrate the role of institutional power in reproducing neoliberal environmental discourses that depoliticise eco-anxiety. Following a social constructionist approach, this study employed the method of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) to analyse the data collected via eight semi-structured interviews with practising therapists. Four main constructions of eco-anxiety were identified within the broader discourses. These were: eco-anxiety as contested, political, psychological, and as normal, healthy, and pathological.

This study argues that the prevailing constructions of eco-anxiety, as demonstrated through the research interviews, can yield two primary implications: the individualisation of eco-anxiety within a therapeutic framework and depoliticisation as an effect. As such, the need for therapists to adopt a critical stance towards normalising climate distress is highlighted so that future research and training can begin to engage with radical practices that encourage systemic rather than individual change.