ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates how the traumas and toxic stresses generated by fast-moving extreme weather events and slow-growing climate impacts can undermine the mental health of individuals. The physical damage caused by climate disruption continually degrades or destroy human-built structures and systems as well as the natural resources society depends on. The abnormal cold periods generated by climate disruption also cause significant suffering. Most people affected by extreme weather events have short-term psychological reactions such as fear and anxiety and then recover. Climate impacts can also affect infrastructure and can lead to power failures, breakdowns in public transportation, the loss of social support services, and other impacts that create more strain for people. The psychological effects of fast and slow-growing climate impacts extend well beyond acute traumas. They also produce a truckload of chronic toxic stresses for individuals. People might have a difficult time linking these adversities with rising global temperatures, but the connection exists nonetheless.
