Number of Citations: 0

Submitted: 25 February 2025
Accepted: 9 September 2025
Published online: 6 January, TAPS 2026, 11(1), 79-81
https://doi.org/10.29060/TAPS.2026-11-1/II3679

Gaik Kin Teoh¹ & Darlina Hani Fadil Azim²

¹Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Social Science, IMU University, Malaysia; ²Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Social Science, IMU University, Malaysia

I. WHERE THE STORY STARTED…

Climate change and health tractions have loudly cumulated at the recent Asian Pacific Medical Education Conference, APMEC 2025. This has alerted us, the mental health professionals in Malaysia, to reflect and to wonder what has been put in place to address the mental health issues while climate change is impending in our country. Thus, this paper aims to skim through the websites of global and Malaysian mental health governing organisations and advocates for climate change and mental health information. The keywords used for searching the official websites were “mental health” and “climate change.” The official websites selected were those that discuss and outline action plans for both mental health and climate change.

II. HIGHLIGHTS ON THE GLOBAL STATUS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

According to the Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report: Summary for Policymakers,

1. About 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in conditions that are highly vulnerable to climate change.
2. Increasing climate change events have caused millions of people to live with the threat of acute shortages of food and water security. These communities are found in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Least Developed Countries, small islands and the Arctic. Meanwhile, in developing countries, the current global financial flows for adaptation are lacking.
3. Between 2010 and 2020, the death toll due to floods, droughts and storms was 15 times higher in highly vulnerable areas.
4. In the near term, every region of the world is predicted to face further escalation in climate hazards, increasing multiple risks to ecosystems and humans. The hazards and associated risks are – an increase in heat-related human mortality and morbidity, food-borne, water-borne, and vector-borne diseases and mental health challenges, floods, biodiversity loss in land, freshwater, and ocean ecosystems and a decrease in food production.
5. The choices and actions taken in this decade will influence the situation now and for thousands of years to come. Thus, deep, rapid, and sustained mitigation and accelerated implementation of changes in this decade would decrease future losses and damages. Delayed mitigation will further increase global warming and damage.

 

The threat of climate change to health has been highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for many years. In 2008, WHO published a comprehensive report on the health impacts of climate change. In 2021, a survey conducted by WHO, among the 95 participating countries, only 9% included mental health and psychosocial support in national health and climate change plans. In 2022, a new WHO policy brief was put in place to underscore the serious risks of climate change to mental health. One of the most concerning mental health outcomes related to climate change is suicidal risk (Chen et al., 2025).

III. GLIMPSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG THE MENTAL HEALTH ORGANISATIONS IN THE WESTERN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

On the other side of the coin, the American Psychological Association [APA] (2017) published Mental Health and Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications and Guidance. In 2020, the American Counseling Association’s task force disseminated a Climate Change Fact Sheet, to familiarise counselors to facts, actions and resources that help to address the needs of clients and communities based on climate change. In 2022, the American Psychological Association (APA) published Addressing Climate Crisis: An Action Plan for Psychologists. The British Psychological Society issued two Clinical Psychology Forum within a year and repeating the same theme – the climate and ecological emergency. This indicated the urgency to take actions and to come together to address the issues of climate change. The Australian Psychological Society [APS] (2024) spotlighted that 94% of its members are concerned about the upcoming impact of climate change on mental health. Particularly, psychological distress has risen from 18.4% in 2011 to 42.30% in 2021 among the 15-24 year old, due to climate change. The New Zealand government underscored climate change and well-being in New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting Series: Our Atmosphere and Climate 2020. In 2024, the Ministry of Health of New Zealand launched the Health National Adaptation Plan 2024-2027, where mental health is embedded to be part of the action plan. In Europe, Climate Change Impacts on Mental Health in Europe was published in 2022. This shows that information on mental health issues associated with climate change is apparent among mental health advocates, particularly, from most Western developed countries.

IV. GLIMPSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND MENTAL HEALTH IN SOME ASIAN COUNTRIES

In Asian countries, India has called for action plans for climate change and mental health. Japan and Taiwan have established initiatives focused on mental health and disaster management.  Many Asian countries are prioritising net-zero emissions and carbon neutrality. Information and discussions on mental health associated with climate change are not readily available on the official websites of most mental health organisations. Eliciting information from official websites among Asian countries proved challenging due to language differences.

V. CLIMATE CHANGE AND MENTAL HEALTH IN MALAYSIA

Skimming through the websites of the mental health associations in Malaysia, such as the Malaysian Society of Clinical Psychology, the Malaysian Board of Counsellors (Lembaga Kaunselor Malaysia), the International Counselling Association of Malaysia (PERKAMA International) and the Malaysian Psychiatric Association, no information was found pertaining to climate change and mental health.

Although climate change and health were highlighted in NEHAP Malaysia (National Environmental Health Action Plan) official website, mental health was only mentioned in the context of post-disaster recovery and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In reality, mental health issues caused by climate change can also manifest in daily activities. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) published the National Climate Change Policy 2.0 in 2024, but addressing mental health concerns was not stated in the policy.

Mahmood and Guinto (2022) have highlighted the seriousness of the climate crisis in Malaysia, including how mental health associated with climate change can further complicate the nascent mental healthcare systems. Besides, Pandya-Wood et al. (2024) underscored that no study was conducted pertaining to mental health and climate change. Urgent attention and investment into climate change-related studies, particularly equitable initiatives, are urged. The readiness to curb the subtle and looming “2nd pandemic” seems to be dubious.

VI. POSSIBLE ACTIONABLE SOLUTIONS FOR MALAYSIA

Firstly, mental health challenges related to climate change should be integrated into the National Climate Change Policy. In addition to the existing stakeholders (such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability etc), forming new partnerships with the Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and NEHAP will play a crucial role in enhancing public awareness towards the issue, as well as implementing targeted health initiatives to uphold the safety, health and mental health of the high risk groups (i.e. pregnant, breastfeeding, postpartum and menopausal women, older people, children under 18, outdoor workers, indigenous communities, low-income populations, people with disabilities and chronic medical conditions). In addition to mass media, information on mental health and climate change should be widely disseminated across the websites and digital platforms of health and mental health-related organisations. In other words, mental health should be given equal prominence as physical health in policy planning.  Innovative technology research is crucial for sustainable development; however, there is a pressing need for more community-based research initiatives that actively seek to understand, involve, and empower the public to contribute to sustainable solutions. Nevertheless, more research grants should be offered to directly address the link between mental health and climate change.

VII. CONCLUSION

We acknowledge that the information retrieved is only limited to publicly available website content. We might also have a bias towards what we consider global mental health organisations. Meanwhile, we have observed that the priorities and initiatives to address mental health and climate change differ by country. Mental health concerns could be addressed by various ministries rather than solely mental health organisations. Achieving carbon neutrality is prioritised over solving mental health concerns in many Asian countries, including Malaysia. Rapid, explicit and organised concerted efforts among the governing bodies are pivotal to curb the subtle and approaching pandemic such as climate change. Forthcoming top-down and bottom-up initiatives are imperative, especially the choices and actions we make in this decade will bear enduring effects for years to come.

Notes on Contributors

GKT initiated, conceptualised, analysed the literature and wrote the paper.
DHFA echoed the significance of the issue, conceptualised, cross-checked the literature, and revised the paper.

Ethical Approval

There is no data presented in this paper, and thus ethical approval is not required.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the Dean of the School of Psychology and Social Sciences, in IMU University, Professor Haslee Sharil Lim Bin Abdullah, for supporting our participation in this conference. We also would like to thank Professor Nilesh Kumar Mitra for inviting us to participate in conducting the pre-conference workshop.

Funding

IMU University, Malaysia, funded our participation in this conference.

Declaration of Interest

All authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

References

Australian Psychological Society. (2024, April 24). 94% of psychologists are concerned about the impact of climate change on mental health. https://psychology.org.au/insights/94-of-psychologists-are-concerned-about-the-impact

Chen, D. D., Tu, J. H., Ling, K. N., Jin, X. H., & Huang, H. Y. (2025). Climate change and suicide epidemiology: A systematic review and meta-analysis of gender variations in global suicide rates. Frontiers in Public Health, 12, 1463676. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1463676

IPCC, 2023: Climate change 2023: Synthesis report, summary for policymakers. Contribution of working groups I, II and III to the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland. 1-34. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647.001

Mahmood, J., & Guinto, R. R. (2022). Lessons from climate reports for the Malaysian medical community. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences: MJMS, 29(3), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.21315/mjms2022.29.3.1

Pandya-Wood, R., Azhari, A., Johar, H., Johns-Putra, A., Muhamad, N., & Su, T. T. (2024). Systematic review of climate change induced health impacts facing Malaysia: Gaps in research. Environmental Research: Health, 2(3), 032002. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5309/ad6208

*Teoh Gaik Kin
IMU University,
126, Jalan Jalil Perkasa 19, Bukit Jalil,
5700 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
60126714766
Email: GaikKinTeoh@imu.edu.my