A few weeks ago, I received a long email from a psychiatrist colleague about a patient of his who’s absolutely convinced that our society is on the verge of total collapse and that humanity is heading for mass extinction as a result of global warming. In my colleague’s opinion, his patient is very intelligent and well read on the topic and doesn’t display the incorrigibility, resistance to evidence, and fallacious reasoning that are typical of clinical delusions. Worryingly, his belief has been taking a serious emotional toll on him. (Well, how would you feel if you believed that the world was about to end?) After a series of long discussions and having read some of the doomer literature the patient recommended, my colleague no longer knew how to assuage his climate worries and began to harbor some doubts himself. So, who’s really in denial about reality: the patient or his doctor? And what about the rest of us?
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