Existential anxiety, psychological flexibility, and deep resilience to climate crises

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Environmental Science
• Sociology

Background:

• Climate crisis evokes existential anxiety, impacting human well-being.
• Existing resilience frameworks may not fully address existential threats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define "deep resilience" by integrating existential anxiety and psychological flexibility.
• To provide a conceptual and empirical basis for understanding climate crisis reactions.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of existential anxiety and psychological flexibility.
• Literature review across psychological, climate, and political domains.

Main Results:

• Deep resilience is defined as multilayered, multiscale adaptation to existential threat.
• Existential anxiety and psychological flexibility are key components of deep resilience.

Conclusions:

• Deep resilience offers a novel framework for understanding and fostering adaptation to climate change.
• This concept can be operationalized for future research and policy interventions.