Commentary highlights climate anxiety in youth and the need for community interventions among vulnerable groups, indicating a shift in mental health approaches.
Climate change threatens mental health through acute and chronic stressors. Vulnerable groups—especially children and people with disabilities—face increased risks due to developmental and structural inequities. Most mental health systems, built for individual care, lack capacity to address climate‐related distress. This commentary outlines key mental health pathways and calls for a population‐based approach. We highlight climate anxiety among youth and gaps in including neurodiverse populations in research and planning. Culturally grounded strategies—such as school‐based support, community engagement, and integrating lived experience into policy—build resilience. We call for collaboration and evaluation of interventions aimed at addressing climate distress through community‐driven systems.
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Abadi et al. (2026) studied this question.
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