'Taking the green pill': An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the lived experiences of climate distress

Climate distress (CD) is an emerging psychological response to the climate crisis, encompassing anxiety, grief, shame, and helplessness. While empirical research has begun to explore its prevalence and emotional impacts, little is known about the lived experience of CD. This study qualitatively explored how CD is experienced, maintained, and managed.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants experiencing CD, recruited via social media. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), allowing for an in-depth exploration of participants' experiences.

Three superordinate themes were identified: (1) moral selves in crisis; (2) climate distress is all-consuming; and (3) finding relief. CD was closely tied to participants' moral identity, often resembling features of moral injury and perfectionistic striving. Distress was intensified by perceived powerlessness, unmet ethical standards, and concern that relief from distress would signal moral disengagement. Value-driven actions provided meaning and relief but were frequently accompanied by shame, burnout and emotional exhaustion. Psychological support was sometimes experienced as invalidating when moral and contextual dimensions of CD were not acknowledged.

CD is a morally grounded response to an ongoing and existential global threat, shaped by identity, values and wider socio-political contexts. Supportive responses should avoid individualising or pathologising distress, instead attending to how responsibility is understood and internalised, and to how individuals relate to their distress in ways that allow for sustainable moral engagement. Therapeutic approaches that support individuals to hold responsibility with self-compassion and within realistic limits of individual agency, alongside collective forms of support, may be particularly valuable.