Eco-anxiety is medical condition affecting increasingly larger number of young people worldwide. Doctors in UK have been advised to raise topic of climate change during consultations with patients. New guidelines encourage doctors to discuss dangers of global warming. health consultation might now consist of medical diagnosis, along with advice on how to reduce carbon footprints. It might also include help on how to deal with eco-anxiety. The Daily Mail newspaper cited critics of guidelines who called them "seriously unethical". They said: "Doctors should spend their precious time treating patients rather than lecturing them on 'politicised issues'."
The United Nations has described eco-anxiety as " emergency crisis hidden in plain sight". Eco-anxiety is defined as stress caused by constant worry about environment and the climate crisis. UN said the condition will severely affect mental health of children. Downtoearth.com wrote: "Extreme weather events like wildfires, heatwaves, droughts, storms, and floods lead to displacement and food shortages, causing psychological harm to humans. They lead to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress." UN survey found that 59 per cent of young people in study were distressed about climate. youngsters felt, "sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty".
