Climate change and psyche : mapping myths, dreams and conversations in the era of global warming

This thesis maps the psychological terrain of those who are engaged with the phenomenon of global warming. The theories and practices of depth psychology informed this research conducted through collaborative research and auto-ethnographic methods with the aim of exploring and analysing the psychological experience of working with climate change concerns through professional and personal commitments. This thesis provides a rationale and argument for expanding opportunities to acknowledge and discuss the disturbing nature of global warming awareness in community contexts, in order to facilitate increased commitment to action through addressing the stresses, provocations, complexities and opportunities that accompany the knowledge of climate change consequences and threats. The impetus behind this research was to chart the emerging landscape of climate change engagement in order to capture the shifts in worldviews, meaning-making, identity, social and political understandings, actions, behaviours and anticipations of the future within individuals whose daily realities involved thinking about and working with global warming issues. Data for the research came from the researcher’s journal writing between 2009 and 2014, and from a collaborative research group of eight people in Sydney, Australia, who met over a period of seven months in 2011, and who also participated in one-to-one initial and final research conversations. The methodological approach used was a blend of depth psychological and collaborative research methods, both of which have reference points within a phenomenological orientation. This approach supported the development of analysis grounded in close observation and recording of subjective knowledge and experience, which validates the multiple realities, understandings and unconscious dynamics that underlie human existence. A focus on complex and rich descriptions of lived experience, inter-subjective fields and the acknowledgement of multiple epistemological sources served to widen and contextualise complex analyses and interpretations that avoided simplistic or reductive views of psychological responses to climate change. The recording and sharing of dreams within this research added crucial insights to unconscious perceptions and responses in relation to global warming awareness. Dream sharing within group discussions also served to open discussions to feelings and experiences that were inaccessible through more conscious questioning and dialogues. The research questions I initially proposed focused on tracking the shifts between existing and emerging worldviews, asking if an understanding of the changing myths of these times could increase creative and resilient responses to confusion, grief and fears associated with climate change. A further question I asked was what happens when individuals come together in a group to inquire into and share their reflections on these processes? While the collaborative research group acknowledged the importance of worldviews and the shifts of paradigms, the major focus that developed within group discussions was on an exploration of the dilemmas of global warming engagements, along with a consideration of the effect of group process on resilience, psychological wellbeing, and developments of consciousness in relationship to interconnected psychological, ecological and socio-political concerns. While this research necessitated the acknowledgement and discussion of many disturbing and threatening factors and consequences of climate change, it yielded benefits to its participants who reported increased feelings of resilience, maturity, compassion, motivation, commitment and direction through having developed greater levels of toleration for exploring discomforting feelings and listening to conflicting views, while re-evaluating values and practices. The research’s outcomes support the creation of safe spaces for community conversations that contribute to the development of collective and relational understandings and practices that can inspire and sustain global warming action. People with psychological training and skills can make a vital contribution in support of such an initiative only once they have undergone a process of experiencing and analysing the development of their individual identity and consciousness within a systemic socio-political and ecological awareness. I argue that psychology needs to further its own evolution within emerging worldviews based upon relational being and inter-related systems, developing creative, participatory and inclusive methods which empower and enliven individuals and their communities towards liberating self-reflection and creative action