Renee Lertzman

Why is "affect" so critical to our work? Because for decades, clinical psychologists (especially those with a psychoanalytic approach) have identified how unconscious anxieties, fears, and affect shape behaviors and our response to specific threats. Denial along with projection, splitting and dissociation are concepts forged by years of clinical practice---not by social scientists. From a psychological perspective, these are defense mechanisms we all engage in, when faced with threats both actual and imagined. Defense mechanisms are unconscious strategies we use, both individually and collectively, to manage anxieties. They present profound obstacles for engaging people, i.e. denial (it's not going to affect me or my kids; the science is not settled), projection (it's their fault, not mine), paralysis, apathy and disavowal (I know this is happening, but I am going to continue doing what I do anyway). When we trigger anxieties we almost always inadvertently trigger defenses---and when it comes to climate change these defenses act on everyone from greenie urban liberals to hardened climate science naysayers. Yes, that includes you and me! So the question is, is there a more productive approach?