“Clinicians are seeing a surge of Childhood Climate Anxiety in young children who do not have the neurological capacity to process existential threats as presented in the National Curriculum. Adults have a duty to protect, not burden, the developing minds of children,” said Clare Rowe, educational psychologist and Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs.
Today, the IPA has written to the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc., and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, urging immediate clinical caution around activist climate change messaging directed at young children.
“The profession must now confront the potential iatrogenic harm being caused by well-intentioned, but cognitively unsuitable, climate education. Ideology should not override our responsibility to protect children’s mental health,” Ms Rowe said.
Australia’s peak mental health bodies have a duty to act following the release of the IPA’s groundbreaking research, Climate Change Anxiety in Children: A Neuroscientific and Psychological Perspective on Curriculum-Induced Anxiety.
The IPA’s report details how alarmist climate education practices are developmentally inappropriate and contributing to significant psychological distress in children.
“The IPA’s research, which draws on developmental neuroscience and child psychology, found that the alarmist climate messaging in schools is fostering anxiety, helplessness, and early-onset mental health issues among children aged 5–12,” Ms Rowe said.
“Each of these three peak bodies have previously issued public statements recognising climate change as a serious threat to mental health and have supported advocacy, education, and therapeutic approaches addressing ‘eco-anxiety’.”
“It is time for psychology’s peak bodies to ensure their public advocacy reflects the science of child development, not activist political agendas,” Ms Rowe said.
Australia’s peak psychological bodies are being urged to critically review advice provided on climate anxiety to ensure that developmental science is at the core of best practice, specifically that;
- It distinguishes between the mental health impacts on adults versus those on children.
- It acknowledges the potential harm caused by fear-based climate narratives in education.
- A moratorium be placed on school-based climate messaging for primary-aged children until developmentally appropriate approaches can be implemented.
“What Australian parents need immediately is a commitment from our most senior clinicians to recognise the damage the National Curriculum is doing to our children’s mental health,” Ms Rowe said.
“Reforming climate education is essential to ensuring that children develop a lifelong commitment to environmental responsibility without experiencing unnecessary psychological distress.”
To download Clare Rowe’s correspondence click here.
To download Climate Change Anxiety in Children: A Neuroscientific and Psychological Perspective on Curriculum-Induced Anxiety click here.
