Intersection Between Eco-Anxiety and Lexical Labels: A Study on Mental Health in Spanish-Language Digital Media

Eco-anxiety and solastalgia are psychological responses to environmental degradation and climate change. This study examines how these concepts are represented in Spanish-language digital media, considering both emotional dimensions and the profiles of content producers.

We conducted an inductive qualitative content analysis of 120 Spanish-language items (online news articles and selected posts from digital platforms) published between October 2023 and March 2024. Items were identified using a Boolean search strategy and initially filtered by LIWC to detect high emotional-and-anxiety term density; final coding followed grounded-theory procedures, resulting in four thematic categories.

The most frequent theme was environmental activism (41%), followed by catastrophic thinking (29%), coping strategies (25%), and loss of meaningful places (6%). Among content producers, citizen participants represented 40%, youth activists 25%, and scientists 15%. Digital media function both as sources of anxiety-inducing content and as spaces for awareness-raising and support.

While eco-anxiety is not a clinical diagnosis, it exerts a significant psychological impact-particularly on youth and vulnerable groups. Spanish-language digital platforms play an ambivalent role, amplifying distress yet enabling resilience and collective action. Future interventions should leverage these channels to foster environmental awareness, emotional resilience, and civic engagement.