How does the climate change crisis affect mental health patients?

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – As the climate crisis worsens, we are becoming aware of farmers whose crops are drying up and people who have lost their homes to rampant forest fires.

But there is another group for whom the climate crisis poses a deadly threat: people with mental health problems such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or anxiety.

This threat has become a reality for some people.

During an unprecedented heatwave in British Columbia in June 2021, it turned out that 8% of people who died from extreme heat had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to a study conducted last March.

This made the disorder a greater risk factor than all the other conditions the researchers studied, including kidney disease and coronary artery disease.

“As the temperature continues to rise, these effects will be magnified,” said Dr. Robert Feder, a retired psychiatrist from New Hampshire and the American Psychiatric Association’s representative to the Medical Society’s Federation on Climate and Health. “There will be more storms, more fires, more fires.” “People will be more concerned about what could happen.”

Several studies have found that higher temperatures are also associated with suicide attempts and increased rates of mental health-related emergency department visits. Long-term exposure to air pollution, caused by the worsening climate crisis, has been linked to higher anxiety and increased suicides.

Experts explained that what happens in the brains of people with schizophrenia or other conditions is just one factor that makes them more vulnerable to extreme heat, air pollution and stress, and they need support from their loved ones, their surrounding communities and policy makers.

Experts explained that what happens in the brains of people with schizophrenia or other conditions is just one factor that makes them more vulnerable to extreme heat, air pollution and stress, and they need support from their loved ones, their surrounding communities and policy makers.

Extreme heat and mental health

What makes some psychiatric patients more vulnerable to extreme heat damage — such as heat stroke or death — begins in a part of the brain called the anterior hypothalamus. Think of it as the body’s thermostat.

“This is the part of the brain that works to tell you — when you feel too hot or too cold — to start shivering, to start sweating, which is the body’s cooling mechanism,” said Dr. Peter Krank, an assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Krank is the lead author of a study conducted in March on the association between temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, and hospitalization of people with schizophrenia.

“It tells the rest of your brain that you need to take behavioral actions, like drinking water or putting on a coat when it’s too cold, or taking off the coat when it’s too warm,” he added.

He pointed out that disorders, whether bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or manic depression, all impede the neural transmission of information to that part of the brain.

Experts explained that the ability to regulate body temperature may also be related to brain chemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine, which are generally low in the brains of people with these disorders.

For his part, Dr. Joshua Wurtzel, a psychiatrist at Bradley Hospital at Brown University in Rhode Island and chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health, said: “The hypothalamus directly depends on the stimulation of serotonin. Serotonin levels in the brain are affected by temperatures.” “Outside, so when we manipulate serotonin levels in the brain with drugs, that may change a person’s ability to sweat.”

Some medications used to treat these disorders can increase the risk by affecting the ability to sweat or raising the body’s core temperature.

Lifestyle habits, which are important for managing mental health symptoms, can also be affected, as warm temperatures can interfere with sleep quality, which is an important factor for managing mental health symptoms.

Additionally, Feder said the nature of most mental health conditions is that a person is at risk for recurring episodes of the illness with which they are diagnosed. These attacks are often caused by some type of stress, and climate disasters certainly cause stress.

Behaviors resulting from these conditions can also contribute to an increased risk of heat-related illness or death.

For example, the state of psychosis that people with schizophrenia may experience may mean that they do not interpret reality correctly, so “they may not even realize that they are feverish, or they may believe that the source of their high temperature is due to a strange or irrational cause and not respond appropriately.” To make themselves (safer).”

People with mental health problems are also more likely to self-medicate with medications that interfere with the body’s ability to sense and respond to heat.

How to protect yourself and others?

Talk with your doctor about whether the medication you are taking makes you more susceptible to extreme heat since some leaflets for these medications may not list this risk as a possible side effect.

Wurtzel added that if climate change continues to get worse, this will actually be a side effect that we will have to worry about more and more.

However, Wurtzel stressed that this is not a reason to stop taking antipsychotics, for example, but it is a good reason to take care of yourself during heatwaves.

Wurtzel noted that addressing the climate crisis, which is the root of the problem, is of course the most important solution. He added that at the policy level, it is necessary to expand access to cooling centers and other resources, and provide more funding for research that will help us better understand the impact of heat on mental health.

There are steps individuals and communities can take to protect vulnerable people when hot weather comes.

“Patients should be aware that they are vulnerable to stress,” Wurtzel said. “They should make sure they have access to air conditioning, to stay hydrated, monitor their outdoor presence, and avoid the hottest times of the day.”

Krank advises applying sunscreen, hats, and loose, light-colored clothing. Cold showers can also help keep your core temperature down.