Digital Mental Health Innovations in the Face of Climate Change: Navigating a Sustainable Future

Psychiatr Serv. 2024 Nov 12:appips20240327. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.20240327. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Climate change poses substantial challenges to mental health, with increased frequency of extreme weather events and environmental degradation exacerbating stress, anxiety, trauma, and existential concerns. Digital innovations, particularly artificial intelligence and digital phenotyping, offer promising avenues to mitigate climate-related mental health burdens. The integration of digital tools into climate-related mental health care necessitates careful consideration of issues of access to and adoption of solutions. Future research should evaluate the effectiveness and scalability of digital interventions to address the mental health impacts of climate change through collaborative efforts involving clinicians, environmental health specialists, bioethicists, policy makers, and technology developers.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; climate change; digital interventions; environment; ethics; prevention.