“HOW PSYCHOANALYSIS CAN HELP US TO BEAR THE THOUGHT OF CLIMATE CHANGE?”

 

 

by Prof. Dr. Matthias Ammann, PhD,
Psychotherapist and psychoanalyst at Equilibrium Oporto, and Climate activist, Portugal

 

 

Abstract:

A growing number of people are realizing that climate change might be a real threat to the present and future generations. Despite protests of some people and parts of us which do not want to see it, a bigger amount of scientific evidence shows us day after day that our way of life might endanger existence on the planet in a scale never seen before. Dealing properly with this is not easy, because the individual psyche cannot bear the pain of these thoughts using different strategies to repress, deny or even evade completely from this reality. Psychoanalysis have much to say about it. The present paper suggests a relational approach to deal with the emotions brought up by the growing number of information about this subject. Once we realize and accept the scientific evidence and regain part of our social and relational strength, we still might have a chance to make real change and promote life.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, fear, climate change, dark optimism.

 

Short Biography:

Prof. Dr. Matthias Ammann has a Bachelor in Economics at UNICAMP (2007), was a Researcher at Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (2008-2013), has a Master in Education at UnB (2011), and a Psychoanalysis specialization at Escola Paulista de Psicanálise (2016), he also has a PhD in Cultural Studies at University of Minho (2017), and has been a Researcher at the University of Minho (2019). He received Psychoanalysis training at Associação Portuguesa de Psicanálise e Psicoterapia psicanalítica (2019), and he is also a Climate activist.