Is Eco-therapy for you?

clipped from www.foxnews.com Sarah Edwards worries about the gasoline she burns, the paper towels she throws out, the litter on the beach, water pollution. She worries so much, it literally makes her sick. “Fear, grief, anger, confusion and depression,” Edwards says, pointing to the negativity that has manifested itself in real-life symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain, fibromyalgia and fatigue. Edwards suffers from eco-anxiety, the growing angst experienced by those who can’t handle the thought that they — or anyone — are in some way contributing to global warming, species extinction and dwindling natural resources. Things have gotten so bad, a new kind of therapy has sprouted up to keep people from going nuts over the environment. “eco-therapy” or “eco-psychology.” The time on the couch isn’t spent delving into a patient’s childhood to find the source of misery. Instead, it looks at how much time a person spends in nature, the person’s carbon footprint and what the individual is doing to save the planet.

“Melissa Pickett, an eco-therapist in Santa Fe, N.M., who says she treats dozens of patients a month, said sometimes she has to tell extreme greenies to chill out for their own good. “The global warming craze will cause your clients to go into extremism fueled by fear,” she says.”

“And with eco-therapy around, that extremism can get expensive. Eco-therapy can cost as much as traditional psychotherapy, upwards of $100 an hour. There’s a lot of green in being green.”

“But Pickett said eco-therapy helps those grappling with feelings of helplessness and hopelessness about the environment.”

“People break down and cry. They develop obsessive-compulsive behavior. They have nightmares,” Pickett said. “And these are normally high-functioning people.”

She pushes her eco-disturbed patients to take shorter showers, turn off lights and computers, consume less, buy less and learn as much as they can about global warming.