Understanding Eco-Anxiety: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Climate Fear

When Fear Feels Bigger Than the Planet

For many people today, anxiety no longer feels personal. It feels planetary.

Children lie awake worrying if polar bears will survive. Teenagers march in climate protests with a quiet despair behind their anger. Adults feel paralysed by images of wildfires, floods, and vanishing rainforests, their nervous systems bracing for a catastrophe they can’t quite name.

This is eco-anxiety. And while the term itself is new, the emotions it describes are not.

As a Fellow of the ACCPH and the creator of The STILL Method, I have spent years working with anxiety in its many forms. Eco-anxiety represents a unique challenge—not just because of the scale of the fear, but because the danger it points to is, at least in part, real.

The question isn’t whether eco-anxiety is justified. The question is how we respond to it—personally, collectively, and compassionately.

What Is Eco-Anxiety?

The American Psychological Association defines eco-anxiety as “the chronic fear of environmental doom.” But that definition barely scratches the surface.

For some, it’s a low hum of unease when the news scrolls past another climate report.
For others, it’s full-blown panic attacks at the thought of bringing children into an uncertain future.

Eco-anxiety is not a pathology. It’s not a sign of a disordered mind. It is, in many ways, a profoundly human response to a global crisis.

But here’s the paradox: while fear sharpens awareness, prolonged states of anxiety shrink capacity. A nervous system in survival mode struggles to engage with solutions, connect with others, or even hold onto hope.

This is why a trauma-informed lens is essential.

Why Trauma-Informed Anxiety Therapy Matters

Traditional approaches to anxiety often focus on “managing symptoms” or “challenging irrational thoughts.” But eco-anxiety isn’t irrational. There are real threats to the environment.

A trauma-informed approach doesn’t dismiss the fear. It validates it. It recognises that for many, eco-anxiety layers on top of earlier experiences of powerlessness, uncertainty, or loss.

When we understand eco-anxiety through this lens, we see it for what it often is:

• A nervous system reacting to a perceived lack of safety—both in the world and in the future

• A survival response heightened by relentless media cycles and societal pressure to “do something”

This understanding doesn’t erase the crisis. It gives us a way to meet the fear without becoming consumed by it.

Recognising Eco-Anxiety in Everyday Life

Eco-anxiety isn’t always obvious. It can look like:

• Hyper-vigilance: Constantly refreshing news feeds for climate updates

• Guilt and shame: Feeling paralysed because nothing you do feels “enough”

• Avoidance: Shutting down, disconnecting, or pretending not to care because caring hurts too much

• Activism burnout: Pouring energy into campaigns until exhaustion replaces hope

These are not moral failings. They are signs of a nervous system trying to cope with a world that feels unsafe.

Trauma-Informed Tools for a Different Way Forward

At The STILL Method, we work with fear in a very specific way. We don’t push through it. We don’t drown in it. Instead, we build a relationship with it—one that allows space for action, connection, and calm.

Here are some of the practices we’ve found helpful:

Pause: Create Space Between Fear and Action

When fear rises, the instinct is to do. But sometimes the most powerful first step is to stop, breathe, and allow the nervous system to settle.

Acknowledge: Validate What Fear Protects

Eco-anxiety often carries layers of grief—grief for what’s lost, what’s threatened, what might never be. Naming this allows movement, where suppression breeds paralysis.

Imagine: Reconnect With Possibility

Trauma shrinks the future into a narrow corridor. Guided imagery and future-self exercises can help clients visualise a life where agency and joy coexist with awareness of the wider world.

Listen: Tune Into the Body’s Wisdom

Tightness in the chest. Shallow breaths. Racing thoughts. Learning to notice these signals gently (without judgment) allows clients to develop tools for co-regulation.

Learn: Build Anchors of Safety

Whether it’s nature walks, mindfulness, or community engagement, creating “safe islands” in daily life helps the nervous system rest.

Founder-Led Therapy: For Those Who Want to Go Deeper

For some, eco-anxiety is part of a broader struggle with fear and control. In these cases, group programmes may not be enough.

In my Founder-Led Therapy, I work one-to-one with a small number of private clients each year. This is not symptom management. It’s an intensive, trauma-informed process to help you move beyond survival mode and rewrite your relationship with fear.

Rethinking Anxiety for a Changing World

Anxiety isn’t the enemy. It’s a messenger. It’s the nervous system calling for safety, connection, and hope in a world that often feels like it offers none.

We don’t need to silence it.
We need to listen to it—and then respond in ways that strengthen, rather than deplete, us.

This is the heart of my work at The STILL Method and in private practice. It’s about building the emotional resilience to face fear without losing yourself to it.

Next Steps

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by eco-anxiety—or noticing it in your clients or community—there are ways forward:

• Explore The STILL Method to learn practical tools for working with fear.

• Apply for Founder-Led Therapy if you’re seeking a highly personalised, trauma-informed approach.

• Read My Story to understand why this work matters so deeply to me.