Thinking the unthinkable
A psychology for the climate crisis
1. Why this, why now
After 50 years working as a psychotherapist and trainer, my focus is on the psychology of the collective crisis which is likely to leave our children inheriting an endangered world. This crisis will force a species wide challenge to imaginatively adapt to a very different world. I am exploring how psychological interventions can become cultural interventions - new ways of healing and transformation.
2. What kind of community?
Shifting attention from everyday worries to concerns about species extinction is not easy. Why bother? Like many things that fall into our personal and collective shadow, the not-bothered culture of uncare needs our attention.
3. What’s on offer?
Random posting on our cultural malaise. We are distracted by our many escapist entertainments that help maintain a sense of ‘normality’ despite increasing symptoms of eco-anxiety, addiction and suicide. Examples of our cultural malaise include:
Issues of overstimulation and lack of self-regulation
Culture of uncare and loss of our capacity to relate to others
Reality seeming to fray at the edges; unravelling of our known world
Unprocessed grief from the many losses of place and species
Apocalyptic fantasies and dreams
