Heat wave stress can make you feel ‘incredibly helpless’ – here’s how to manage it

Watts is not alone. In the year A 2022 study from the University of Bath found that around 4.6% of people in the UK have climate anxiety, which is recognized by professional bodies and NHS mental health. According to a study published in 2025, youth and women are among the most vulnerable groups.

Stress, particularly associated with heatwaves, is becoming more common, say psychologists Dr Caroline Hickman from the University of Bath and Dr Emma Lawrence from the University of Oxford.

Hickman, who treats individuals with climate anxiety, told the BBC: “After one traumatic event, like a flood or a heat wave, people expect to wait for the next one.”

“Now we’re getting repeat, repeat, repeat (heat waves) in the UK. It creates a feeling of ‘I can’t be safe in the world, and the world can’t be trusted,'” she added.

“I’ve had people say they’re going to kill themselves, I’ve had people say they’re going to terminate a pregnancy, I’ve had people say they want to sell their house and move somewhere cold,” Hickman said in the June heat.

Watts said her video is about “openly messing with people” — including therapists posting comments about coping techniques — and that she wants to help others cope with climate stress.

“It can go one of two ways, either you just go into trouble and say, ‘What’s the point?’ You can think,” she said.

“Or you can try to do something. I sign petitions during heat waves; I organize climate community events; I run a free kids’ clothing thrift store. During the last heat wave I finally became a vegetarian, because I can tell my kids that at least I tried.”