Surviving Climate Anxiety: A Guide to Coping, Healing, and Thriving - Hardcover

by Thomas Doherty (Author)

** SILVER WINNER OF THE 2026 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD **

Learn how to cope with and heal from climate anxiety in this groundbreaking guide by "the most prominent American advocate of ecopsychology" (New York Times).

With climate disasters mounting and solutions feeling ever more elusive, eco-anxiety is rapidly becoming one of the biggest mental health threats of our time.
Surviving Climate Anxiety is the essential guide to coping with the psychological impacts of persistent environmental crisis. In it, the world's leading climate anxiety expert Dr. Thomas Doherty shares his pioneering, evidence-based methods to help you:

• Reclaim your nervous system: manage your thoughts and feelings, and stress about climate change
• Understand your environmental identity: your history, values, and connection to the natural world
• Prioritize eco-wellness: Utilize arts, creativity, and spirituality as tools for flourishing
• Liberate yourself from living as a climate hostage: overcome fear of climate disasters and tend to eco-depression and grief
• Broaden your horizons of hope: cultivate optimism through stewardship and action

Packed with practical, research-backed tips and dozens of stories - from the geologist haunted by images of melting glaciers, to the young couple agonizing over whether to bring a child into a world on fire, to a twenty-something wondering what it was like back when people believed in a future - Surviving Climate Anxiety provides the tools to cope, heal, and flourish, even in these times.

Author Biography

Dr. Thomas Doherty is an award-winning clinical psychologist, internationally recognized for his research on the psychological impacts of climate change. His practice Sustainable Self marries traditional therapeutic approaches with findings about sustainability, nature, and well-being under an ecopsychology framework, and he has trained and supported mental health professionals from around the world addressing eco-anxiety.

Doherty is a regular guest speaker at conferences and panels worldwide, and has conducted workshops and trainings for organizations such as the US National Park Service, the California Department of Health, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the Aspen Ideas Festival. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Doherty is the creator of the podcast "Climate Change and Happiness," which he cohosts with researcher Panu Pihkala. He lives in Portland, Oregon.