Talk To Me: I lie awake at night worrying about climate change 

Psychologist Caroline Martin is here to answer your questions on whatever issues you are dealing with in life, from work pressure and stress to loneliness and grief

Picture: iStock 

I am deeply concerned about the growing climate crisis. I’ve two young children and worry about their future. I dream about moving into the countryside and becoming self-sufficient. My husband says I’m overreacting and correctly points out that neither of us has the skills to run a smallholding. Most days, I can put my anxiety to one side and get on with life but there are nights when I lie awake feeling helpless about lies ahead.

When we are faced with enormous threat to our existence and don’t know how to fix it, we naturally feel overwhelmed. This will manifest in various ways, some predetermined by previous life experience, our social context, our age and our gender. Some of us will get angry, perhaps deny the threat exists - others will feel great anguish and psychological pain and disengage. These are valid responses to a threat of this magnitude. Your grave concern and sense of helplessness fit because you are human and deeply appreciate the planet on which we live. We feel a sense of despair because we care intensely about our world that is threatened.