Depth Psychology and Climate Change

Book excerpt: Depth Psychology and Climate Change offers a sensitive and insightful look at how ideas from depth psychology can move us beyond psychological overwhelm when facing the ecological disaster of climate change and its denial. Integrating ideas from disciplines including anthropology, politics, spirituality, mythology and philosophy, contributors consider how climate change affects psychological well-being and how we can place hope and radical uncertainty alongside rage and despair. The book explores symbols of transformation, myths and futures; and is structured to encourage regular reflection. Each contributor brings their own perspective – green politics, change and loss, climate change denial, consumerism and our connection to nature – suggesting responses to mental suffering arising from an unstable and uncertain international outlook. They examine how subsequent changes in consciousness can develop. This book will be essential reading for analytical psychologists, Jungian analysts and psychotherapists, as well as academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies. It will also be of great interest to academics and students of the politics and policy of climate change, anthropology, myth and symbolism and ecopsychology, and to anyone seeking a new perspective on the climate emergency.