“I Owe It to My Daughter”: How Parents Deal with the Climate Crisis. Psychodynamic Interviews with Parents Committed to Climate Protection

ABSTRACT

Based on four interviews with parents committed to climate protection, it is shown how they deal with the existential threat posed by the climate crisis and how it affects their relationships with their children. It becomes apparent that these parents are profoundly unsettled by the climate crisis, because they are aware of their own responsibility for their children and future generations. The interviewees describe how much of a burden it is for them to deal with the ominous forecasts for the future without being able to simply ignore them – as many others do. They feel guilt toward their children about how they have lived their lives so far, wasting resources. Although they often feel helpless and powerless, they are also actively involved in the climate movement for the sake of their children, which gives them some hope.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate crisis
• politically engaged parents
• involvement in a group of like-minded people
• “environmental melancholia”
• psychological stress
• sense of responsibility for children and future generations
• coping mechanisms
• shame, guilt, grief, and fear of climate change
• political activism
• hopelessness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ines Schelhas

Ines Schelhas, Dipl.-Psych, Dipl.-Sozialpäd.; psychoanalyst for adults in private practice; parent-infant-therapist; head of the psychotherapeutic ambulance for parents, infants and babies and lecturer at the Münchner Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Psychoanalyse; member of the ParentsForFuture (P4F); [email protected]; Rosenheimerstr. 1 (MAP); 81667 Munich/Germany

Martina Gast

Martina Gast, Dipl.-Psych.; psychoanalyst for adults in private practice; TFP-therapist; lecturer at the Münchner Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Psychoanalyse; [email protected], Herzogstr. 95, 80796 Munich/Germany