Alex Trelinski
A BARCELONA study suggests that high spikes in temperature cause mental health problems, and have increased suicide cases by 5% over the last 250 years.
A major crunch of data by the Hospital Clinic Barcelona and the city’s IDIBAPS biomedical research centre has reached the conclusion-published in the World Psychiatry magazine.
Over 280 studies in which pollution and climate change were associated with mental disorders were analysed.
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The researchers argue that global warming may have caused a 5% increase in suicides and that will dramatically rise to 7% by 2050.
One of the report authors- Dr. Joaquim Radua from IDIBAPS- explained that they made links between temperature peaks and suicides, from the mid-18th century through to the present,
A rise in suicides did not only happen from a gradual increase in temperatures but also increased when values suddenly shot up.
The head of the Psychiatry and Psychology Service at the Hospital Clínic, Eduard Vieta, stressed that suicide prevention policies are not only possible but necessary.
Vieta said temperatures rises mean that heat strokes are not the sole factor behind deaths, but trigger some vulnerable people with depression to take their lives.
“It’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” he said.
Both Vieta and Radua have pointed out that their teams will carry out future research on the neurobiological effects of heat on mental health- something that has not received as much attention as physical health.
More advanced research will look at the relationship between exposure to solvents and pollutants to dementia, cognitive decline, and some mental disorders.
Regarding schizophrenia, it has been found that exposure to high levels of sulphur dioxide (from the combustion of petroleum and other solid fuels in industry) can increase the risks of relapse in patients with this disease.
Dr. Radua said: “Thanks to this study, we now have robust evidence of the negative impact that climate change has had and the effect on mental health around the world.”
“The results can be used to inform authorities and raise public awareness on the risks to mental health and to seek and take measures to prevent problems,” he added.
