Leslie Davenport, Author at Grist (original) (raw)

Articles by Licensed therapist Leslie Davenport

Leslie Davenport is a licensed therapist, educator, speaker, consultant, and internationally recognized voice on the emotional and psychological dimensions of climate change.

Dear Leslie,

A lot of my work in therapy for anxiety has focused on recognizing catastrophic thinking and assessing what is more realistic. How would you suggest adapting this for a world where reality itself is increasingly becoming more catastrophic, and science suggests things will get worse in the future?

— Anonymously Anxious

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Dear Anonymously Anxious,

Your question points to something I’ve had to reckon with in my own practice as a therapist. Before I became more aware of the impacts of climate change, I used the same framework you describe — I helped clients recognize their distorted thinking and recalibrate toward what’s realistic.

But as I came to understand the actual science, I had a striking realization: For climate-aware cl... Read more