IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v72y2026i2p182-204.html

Unveiling climate distress: Examining the psychological impact of adverse weather events in India – A systematic review

Author

Listed:
  • Adarsh Tripathi
  • Pritanshi Jeswani
  • Rashmi Shukla
  • Vikrant Patel

Abstract

Background: Climate distress is a psychological reaction to adverse weather events and climate change. These events can increase people’s vulnerability to develop psychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, and PTSD particularly in disaster-prone regions like India. Aim: To explore the relationship between climate distress and psychological impact with a particular emphasis on women, elderly, and other at risk populations who owing to their health vulnerabilities, lack of resources or social roles that make them dependent on others, experience stress in the face of climate change. We synthesized findings from 75 studies involving 8,895,217 individuals, to understand the psychological impact of events like floods, cyclones, tsunamis, and air pollution. All related studies conducted in India from inception of the web search engines to December 9, 2024 were included in this study. Method: This systematic review was conducted as per the PRISMA guidelines. Studies were identified from CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE and data was extracted using a custom extraction form. Result: We report a high prevalence of mental health conditions like PTSD, anxiety, and depression after extreme weather events like floods, cyclones, tsunamis, and air pollution. Subclinical conditions like sleep disturbances, stress, cognitive decline, and fear; along with, positive mental health outcomes like resilience, pro-environmental behavior, appreciation for life, and post traumatic growth post such events were commonly reported. Female gender, older age, financial instability, low education levels, and disaster exposure were the major risk factors. Social support, high education, and high socioeconomic status were the protective factors. Conclusion: Findings imply the need for having practical strategies for community-based resilience for the at risk population, starting at policy planning levels to address climate-related psychological distress. Our review highlights the need for further research to define and measure climate distress and psychological impact in the context of climate-induced heat, particularly in underrepresented regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Adarsh Tripathi & Pritanshi Jeswani & Rashmi Shukla & Vikrant Patel, 2026. "Unveiling climate distress: Examining the psychological impact of adverse weather events in India – A systematic review," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 72(2), pages 182-204, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:72:y:2026:i:2:p:182-204
    DOI: 10.1177/00207640251362911
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640251362911
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00207640251362911?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Biju Viswanath & Ami S. Maroky & Suresh B. Math & John P. John & Anish V. Cherian & Satish C. Girimaji & Vivek Benegal & Ameer Hamza & Santosh K. Chaturvedi, 2013. "Gender differences in the psychological impact of tsunami," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(2), pages 130-136, March.
    2. Motonao Ishikawa & Naomune Yamamoto & Gaku Yamanaka & Kuniaki Suwa & Shun Nakajima & Reiko Hozo & Tsering Norboo & Kiyohito Okumiya & Kozo Matsubayashi & Kuniaki Otsuka, 2013. "Disaster-related psychiatric disorders among survivors of flooding in Ladakh, India," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(5), pages 468-473, August.
    3. Lawrence A. Palinkas & Meaghan L. O’Donnell & Winnie Lau & Marleen Wong, 2020. "Strategies for Delivering Mental Health Services in Response to Global Climate Change: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Pelli, Martino & Tschopp, Jeanne & Bezmaternykh, Natalia & Eklou, Kodjovi M., 2023. "In the eye of the storm: Firms and capital destruction in India," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Susan D. Clayton & Panu Pihkala & Britt Wray & Elizabeth Marks, 2023. "Psychological and Emotional Responses to Climate Change among Young People Worldwide: Differences Associated with Gender, Age, and Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-12, February.
    6. Uttara Balakrishnan & Magda Tsaneva, 2023. "Impact of Air Pollution on Mental Health in India," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(1), pages 133-147, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. To, Bao Cong Nguyen, 2025. "No cash hoarding under storms: The pushback effect of growth opportunities," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    2. Brehm, Johannes & Gruhl, Henri & Kottmann, Robin & Schmitz, Laura, 2024. "Low depression zones? The effect of driving restrictions on air pollution and mental health," Ruhr Economic Papers 1093, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Lennart Reifels & Michel L. A. Dückers, 2023. "Disaster Mental Health Risk Reduction: Appraising Disaster Mental Health Research as If Risk Mattered," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(11), pages 1-14, May.
    4. Lawrence A. Palinkas & Jessenia De Leon & Kexin Yu & Erika Salinas & Cecilia Fernandez & Jill Johnston & Md Mostafijur Rahman & Sam J. Silva & Michael Hurlburt & Rob S. McConnell & Erika Garcia, 2023. "Adaptation Resources and Responses to Wildfire Smoke and Other Forms of Air Pollution in Low-Income Urban Settings: A Mixed-Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(7), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Kerstin Katharina Zander & Duy Nguyen & Stephen Thomas Garnett, 2025. "A decade of German heatwave data reveals shift in local impact perception," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 30(5), pages 1-26, June.
    6. Jiazhou Wang & Yueyue Zhou & Yiming Liang & Zhengkui Liu, 2019. "A Large Sample Survey of Tibetan People on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: Current Situation of Depression and Risk Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Bas, Maria & Paunov, Caroline, 2025. "Riders on the storm: How do firms navigate production and market conditions amid El Niño?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    8. Pelli, Martino & Tschopp, Jeanne & Bernabé, Angélique & Diop, Boubacar, 2025. "Corrigendum to “Storms, early education and human capital” [J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 130 (2025) 103104]," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    9. Amir Tiyuri & Maryam Rasoulian & Ahmad Hajebi & Morteza Naserbakht & Amir Shabani & Mitra Hakim Shooshtari & Aziz Rezapour & Seyed Abbas Motevalian, 2023. "Psychological impact of the Spring 2019 flood among adult population of Iran," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(8), pages 1916-1927, December.
    10. Sandra Aguilar-Gomez & Nathaly M. Rivera, 2024. "Air Pollution in the Global South: An Overview of Its Sources and Impacts," Working Papers wp561, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    11. Leso Munala & Elizabeth M. Allen & Andrew J. Frederick & Anne Ngũnjiri, 2023. "Climate Change, Extreme Weather, and Intimate Partner Violence in East African Agrarian-Based Economies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(23), pages 1-14, November.
    12. Anish Sugathan & Arpit Shah & Deepak Malghan, 2024. "Washed Away: Industrial Capital, Labor, and Floods," IIMA Working Papers WP 2024-12-01, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    13. Legrenzi, Demis & Ciola, Emanuele & Bazzana, Davide, "undated". "Adaptation to climate-induced macrofinancial risks: top-down and bottom-up solutions," FEEM Working Papers 369004, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    14. Çiçek Ediz & Derya Yanik, 2023. "The effects of climate change awareness on mental health: Comparison of climate anxiety and hopelessness levels in Turkish youth," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(8), pages 2157-2166, December.
    15. Choudhurimayum Pankaj Sharma & Anil Kumar & Poonam Chahal & Uma Kant Shukla & Pradeep Srivastava & Manoj K. Jaiswal, 2023. "Debris flow susceptibility assessment of Leh Valley, Ladakh, based on concepts of connectivity, propagation and evidence-based probability," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 115(2), pages 1833-1859, January.
    16. Richard Freund, 2023. "From drought to distress: unpacking the mental health effects of water scarcity," CSAE Working Paper Series 2023-07, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    17. Gonca Kurt & Recep Akdur, 2024. "Under What Conditions Does Climate Change Worry Contribute to Climate Action in Turkey: What Moderates This Relationship?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-18, March.
    18. Dong, Peiting & Yao, Xin, 2025. "Flood disasters, firm total factor productivity and adaptation behaviors," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(PB).
    19. Rajesh Aggarwal & Mufaddal Baxamusa, 2025. "Investments under Risk: Evidence from Hurricane Strikes," Working Papers 25-43, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    20. Goicoechea, Ana & Lang, Megan Elizabeth, 2023. "Firms and Climate Change in Low- and Middle-Income Countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10644, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:72:y:2026:i:2:p:182-204. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.