If recent tragic incidents across mountain slopes in various parts of the country are any indication, losing sleep at night over uncertain mornings may not be unusual for those who have been dwelling on such mountain slopes, which are now considered vulnerable. Dreadful videos of people and property falling victim to such unprecedented natural catastrophes are nightmarish. People dread physical emergencies like forest fires, landslides and unpredicted floods, but climatic exigencies are no less dreadful with anxiety taking its toll.

The cause of the imminent change may garner academic interest, be it caused by climate-change or man-made factors, but the climate anxiety induced may make people suffer in many horrible ways. How to think, how to feel, and how to manage stress will depend on what is referred to as ‘individual problems with climate change’ (IPCC). Even then the current crisis is more complicated, tragic, and unjust than we think.

Unique perspective

Thomas Doherty, a clinical psychologist and mental health therapist, offers a unique perspective about climate change and how one should relate to it. He guides the reader to keep himself equipped with the tools needed for navigation through climatic exigencies. A father and widower, Doherty uses his own life experience, and client stories to help the reader navigate his/her own feelings about climate change and how to take action in a world that is consequentially suffering from climate change’s effects.

Another aspect about the book is that it discusses social justice, environmental justice, eco-advocacy, marginalised groups and environmental racism. These are no less important issues, and the intersectionality between all of them is essential to discuss climate change through all levels of advocacy. Doherty also leaves us with a reminder that advocacy is needed at all levels — whether front-lines or behind the scenes — and our role is important.

It is a five-part process, starting with small coping skills, to skills drawn from therapy, to reclaiming happiness, and to taking action. In this book, Doherty promises to help reframe climate anxiety and make it work for us, rather than against us. It is written with the rare combination of scientific clarity and deep psychological compassion. Rather than pathologising climate distress, he normalises it as a sign of moral attunement — a natural response to an unnatural situation. A simple, ‘calm down’ may not work when anxiety is embedded deep.

Doherty doesn’t think if ‘calm down’ or ‘think positive’ will work in such anxieties. Instead, he looks to metabolise fear, guilt, grief, and outrage into something usable — into care, connection, and action. In fact, the climate disaster cycle is upon all of us right now; either amid a disaster, recovering from one or anticipating the next. In the words of William Gibson, the harsh reality is that climate-change-fuelled disasters are a fact of life now.

Tragic stories

Climatic anxiety in no less prevalent, with tragic human stories from different regions piling up. Sita and her family faced storms and wild fires; Jesse and her family were witness to their destroyed homes; there are any number who withstood coastal flooding. Once isolated, such stories are now common for generating sympathetic analysis. Doherty argues that retelling such stories is a way to unburden ourselves from the weights of the environmental transgression people seem to be burdened with.

This book may seem to have been written ahead of its time. But climate change anxiety is one of the biggest mental health threats afflicting a growing population, irrespective of its economic and social status. From the geologist haunted by images of melting glaciers to the young couple agonising over their own survival, Surviving Climate Anxiety provides the tools to cope, heal, and flourish even in such challenging times. This book is different as it is about coping and possibly thriving in the face of climatic change from a psychological perspective.

Hopeful and profoundly empathetic, this book is a comprehensive and comforting manual, and Doherty, a competent and benevolent guide. There are moments when the book acts like a gentle reminder to remain both awake and vigilant. If you care deeply about the world and are finding it harder to hold that caring without breaking, this book belongs on your nightstand.

The reviewer is an independent writer, researcher and academic

Title: Surviving Climate Anxiety

Author: Thomas Doherty

Publisher: Hachette, New Delhi

Price: ₹799

Published on January 2, 2026