Faith in Equity, Equity in Faith: Insights about Care for Climate-Related Mental Health Issues

Even during a period of increasing secularization, most of the world’s population identifies as belonging to a religion or faith tradition. Nevertheless, faith is a dimension of the human experience often discounted in evaluating and treating climate-related mental health issues. This paper surveys mental health consequences of climate disruption, including trauma and climate anxiety, and psychological defense mechanisms, including climate denial. To enhance understanding of multi-faith perspectives on climate change, the paper draws attention to Indigenous traditions, especially the Diné (Navajo) faith tradition. It shows how Indigenous ceremonies and other traditional practices, traditional ecological knowledge, a reverence for specific places and ecosystems, and other faith-based values reveal commonly held ethics with positive therapeutic implications. Indigenous knowledge, traditional practices, and other faith-based habits and practices are associated with optimal mental health and are significant, yet often neglected resources in the treatment and remission of psychiatric conditions associated with climate change.