The results of climate change-more frequent and intense storms, extreme heat, and prolonged wildfire seasons, among others-are leaving a wreckage of socioeconomic consequences for society and future generations. Increasingly, attention is shifting to the neuropsychiatric damage and emotional effects of the climate crisis, including traumas, anxiety, grief, and rage. Although a number of books have been written in response, they have largely been aimed at the layperson; none have been written by physicians to support the day-to-day work of psychiatrists as they address these symptoms and struggles with their patients.

The Handbook of Climate Psychiatry and Psychotherapy has been written to fill this gap, putting everything the mental health clinician needs to know in one place. It provides the science and guidance needed for the psychiatric and psychological response to climate change in a format accessible to office- or clinic-based mental health clinicians, including physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and allied professionals.

Divided into four sections, this volume includes

• An introduction to climate justice, and the ethics and public health activities of engaging climate change as a psychiatrist• An examination of the neuropsychiatric impacts of climate effects such as extreme heat, air pollution, vector-borne illness and food and water insecurity• Practical guidance on performing climate-informed patient assessments and psychotherapy interventions at individual and group levels • A review of the community, global, institutional, research, and educational aspects of climate psychiatry

Designed for maximum utility for the busy clinician, this guide features compelling case vignettes, handy tables, and key points in each chapter. Readers will gain practical tools to assess and address each patient's symptoms and to foster the innate resilience that can lead to positive change.

This is the first physician-authored book that reflects the daily work of psychiatrists on the effects of climate change. Designed for office- and clinic-based mental health clinicians, it addresses the psychiatric and psychological responses to climate change.

Part I: Introduction and OverviewChapter 1. IntroductionChapter 2. History of climate psychiatryChapter 3. Psychiatric ethics, climate justice, and climate advocacy and activismPart II: Neuropsychiatric and biological effects of climate changeChapter 4. Extreme Heat and its implications for psychiatryChapter 5. Air pollution impacts on the brainChapter 6. Nutrition, food and water insecurity and mental healthChapter 7. Climate-related shifts in infectious diseases, their neuropsychiatric symptoms, and associated issues in the human-microbiome relationshipChapter 8. Climate change, extreme weather, nature disasters and human displacementPart III: Psychological responses to climate change, their assessment and the psychotherapeutic responseChapter 9. Obstacles to rational and adequate responses to climate changeChapter 10. Emotional reactions and syndromes associated with climate changeChapter 11. Assessment of the patient: climate-related vulnerabilities and psychologyChapter 12. Psychotherapy considerations and approaches to climate-related distressPart IV: Community, institutional and global psychiatry for climate changeChapter 13. Coordinating the climate psychiatry response: global, institutional, educational and research agendasChapter 14. Community psychiatry and its role in climate mitigation and adaptationChapter 15. Sustainable psychiatry: reducing the carbon footprint of mental health practiceAcknowledgements

Elizabeth Haase, M.D., is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Nevada School of Medicine and Medical Director of Psychiatry at Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center in Carson City, Nevada.