Climate change and the future of psychiatry: challenges and opportunities for the next three decades

Climate change is an escalating global health threat with significant implications for the field of psychiatry. This narrative review explores the anticipated psychiatric consequences of climate change over the next three decades, highlighting emerging challenges and potential opportunities for mental health care. Evidence links extreme weather events, heatwaves, and environmental degradation to increased rates of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide. Vulnerable groups include rural women, youth, and individuals with pre-existing mental disorders. The rise of eco-anxiety and climate-related depression points to the emergence of new clinical presentations that may warrant future inclusion in diagnostic frameworks such as the DSM and ICD. The review emphasizes the urgent need to adapt psychiatric training, strengthen healthcare systems, and implement climate-informed policies. Digital solutions, especially telepsychiatry, are vital for maintaining care delivery amid climate disruptions. Concurrently, advances in stress-related biomarkers offer promising avenues for early detection and prevention. Psychiatry must engage proactively in climate change mitigation and adaptation, promoting climate justice and equitable access to care. Addressing the mental health dimensions of climate change is crucial to building resilient psychiatric services capable of responding to the evolving environmental and societal landscape.