Surviving Climate Anxiety - by Thomas Doherty (Hardcover)

About the Book

"With climate disasters mounting and solutions feeling ever more elusive, eco-anxiety is rapidly becoming one of the biggest mental health threats of our time. Surviving Climate Anxiety is the essential guide to coping with the psychological impacts of persistent environmental crisis."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

** SILVER WINNER OF THE 2026 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD **

Learn how to cope with and heal from climate anxiety in this groundbreaking guide by "the most prominent American advocate of ecopsychology" (New York Times).

With climate disasters mounting and solutions feeling ever more elusive, eco-anxiety is rapidly becoming one of the biggest mental health threats of our time.
Surviving Climate Anxiety is the essential guide to coping with the psychological impacts of persistent environmental crisis. In it, the world's leading climate anxiety expert Dr. Thomas Doherty shares his pioneering, evidence-based methods to help you:

• Reclaim your nervous system: manage your thoughts and feelings, and stress about climate change
• Understand your environmental identity: your history, values, and connection to the natural world
• Prioritize eco-wellness: Utilize arts, creativity, and spirituality as tools for flourishing
• Liberate yourself from living as a climate hostage: overcome fear of climate disasters and tend to eco-depression and grief
• Broaden your horizons of hope: cultivate optimism through stewardship and action

Packed with practical, research-backed tips and dozens of stories - from the geologist haunted by images of melting glaciers, to the young couple agonizing over whether to bring a child into a world on fire, to a twenty-something wondering what it was like back when people believed in a future - Surviving Climate Anxiety provides the tools to cope, heal, and flourish, even in these times.

Review Quotes

"An accessible and hopeful guide to one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Drawing on decades of clinical experience, Doherty blends lyrical prose, relatable stories, and practical tools to make the climate crisis feel both intimate and navigable. Each chapter adds another layer to a trail map for guiding readers with clarity and compassion through the complexity of the climate crisis--equipping us not only to cope, but to heal and thrive."--Ryan F. Reese, Ph.D. author, Natural Approaches to Optimal Wellness: Integrating EcoWellness into Counseling

"In Surviving Climate Anxiety, Doherty offers a clearly-crafted, no-nonsense prescription for climate distress. Using research in climate psychology, case examples, helpful diagrams, and mindfulness exercises, he illuminates a hopeful path forward through our Climate Emergency. Parents will gain an undeniable anchor by reading this book -- one that will ground them in identity, values, action, and attunement with the natural world, and better equip them to raise the next generation."

--Ariella Cook-Shonkoff, licensed psychotherapist and author of Raising Anti-Doomers: How to Bring up Resilient Kids Through Climate Change and Tumultuous Times

"This is the book on climate psychology we've all been waiting for! Beautifully written, smart, super-readable, full of clear ideas, enjoyable exercises and practical advice. I especially love the relatable stories of people dealing with just the kinds of emotions and issues so many of us are now confronted with as global and local environmental conditions grow ever more challenging."--Linda Buzzell, LMFT - psychotherapist, co-editor of Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind

"Dr. Thomas Doherty is no stranger to suffering, but he continues to believe in the possibility to flourish, even in dark times."

--Panu Pihkala, Ph.D., eco-anxiety researcher

"A powerful book on the need to embrace brightness in a world that can seem uncertain but filled with solutions around our community."--Isaias Hernandez, environmentalist and storyteller, creator of Queer Brown Vegan

"An essential field guide for weathering our overheated era. Bringing tremendous empathy and wisdom, Doherty provides readers not just a blueprint for bettering their own mental health, but for better showing up for loved ones and loved places amidst climate catastrophe. I will revisit this book over and over again, not just as a buoy, but as a battle call."--Erica Berry, author, Wolfish

"Doherty is a calm and wise companion through the labyrinth of feeling that more us are confronting as the planet changes.... likely to become a mainstay for people encountering climate anxiety."--Anya Kamenetz, author, The Stolen Year

"From parents worried about their current and future children, to those working directly with climate projections and glacier melt, Doherty offers practical ways to develop a mindset that leads to flexibility and positive growth. The book is timely, engaging, accessible, and very relatable."--Jade S. Sasser, Associate Professor, University of California Riverside, author, Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question

"Full of wise, warm and compassionate stories, inspirational ideas, reflections and practical advice to help us find our way through the climate and ecological crisis....gives us maps, a compass, stories for the journey. My copy is going to be dog eared!"--Caroline Hickman, psychotherapist & climate psychology researcher

"If you are awake to Earth's dire jeopardy, this book says you are not alone. Doherty takes a hard look at what we face, then offers wise counsel. This beats denial, beats paralysis, beats sleepless nights feeling helpless. In the face of all hard news and dark prophecy, is it possible to keep your head up, your heart steady, and even to thrive? This book says yes, and tells you how."--Kim Stafford, author, As the Sky Begins to Change and former Oregon Poet Laureate

"The book so many of us need right now. Dr. Doherty draws on years of clinical experience to meet readers honestly in the distress of our climate-altered world, then skillfully guides them toward a hope that feels genuine and earned."--Leslie Davenport, author, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change

About the Author

Dr. Thomas Doherty is an award-winning clinical psychologist, internationally recognized for his research on the psychological impacts of climate change. His practice Sustainable Self marries traditional therapeutic approaches with findings about sustainability, nature, and well-being under an ecopsychology framework, and he has trained and supported mental health professionals from around the world addressing eco-anxiety.

Doherty is a regular guest speaker at conferences and panels worldwide, and has conducted workshops and trainings for organizations such as the US National Park Service, the California Department of Health, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the Aspen Ideas Festival. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Dr. Doherty is the creator of the podcast "Climate Change and Happiness," which he cohosts with researcher Panu Pihkala. He lives in Portland, Oregon.