Melissa Pickett, a licensed counselor in Santa Fe, says she has seen an increase in the number of people coming to her for help with varying degrees of “fear of the environment.”

“I see a trend,” she said. “It’s coming up more in the course of therapy. People say, ‘I’m worried about the polar bear (its habitat disappearing). I just can’t get it out of my head.’ ”

Melissa figures half-dozen therapists in New Mexico see clients who worry about environmental issues. Melissa and others who help people with these anxieties are known as eco-therapists. People from throughout the United States call Melissa for help with their fears of the environment; she counsels them on the phone.

At a recent conference of the New Mexico Association for Spirituality, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling, a division of the New Mexico Counseling Association, Melissa gave a talk about eco-anxiety. She has been interviewed about eco-anxiety for Time magazine, and publications in Spain and Brazil. She has appeared on Canadian television.

She cautions that the publicity about eco-anxiety may be exaggerating its prevalence.

“Some people have assumed that hordes of people are coming to my door with this problem. That’s not true,” she said. “But I have seen it as a trend. More and more it’s coming up in the course of therapy.”

For years, people have expressed concern about the environment, but more and more people have become alarmed lately, Melissa noted.

“Some Americans have been in denial about the problem for years. At first, only a few people were worried about the effects of the environment, but now they see that we can be vulnerable to terrorist attacks and environmental attacks. The attack on the World Trade Center was a wake-up call in many ways about our vulnerability. Increasingly, people are becoming aware of the problems. They’re coming out of denial. It’s in the media. There are movies about it, books, and newspaper articles.

“Yet, it’s a positive time, even though frightening things are happening. We’re being more conscious of Mother Nature. Mother Nature is waking us up.”

Melissa treats patients “with a combination of psychotherapy, energy therapy, and spiritual counseling,” she said. There are those who dismiss the concept of global warming and the fact that some animals are disappearing from the planet, she noted.

“People talk about extinction, saying creatures have always become extinct from the planet. Look at the dinosaurs and the Ice Age. But that’s not the point. It’s irrelevant. There are 6.5 billion people on the planet. The point is: How can we make changes in our lives regarding our effect on the environment so we can continue to sustain and evolve a healthful society?

“We are out of balance,” Melissa continued. “We should be changing our consumer behavior and our treatment of the natural world, which is our lifeblood. If we cannot provide a healthy world we cannot be healthy. It’s tied in to consumerism. The biggest change we need to make is in how we consume.”

The term eco-psychology was coined in the 1990s by Theodore Roszak, a California professor. Some psychotherapy degrees now include fear of the environment in their curriculum, said Melissa, adding that eco-therapy has become a political debate on the Internet.

People can take small steps to alleviate their anxiety, she continued. They can buy organic food, buy non-polluting cars and lawn mowers, recycle—and appreciate nature.

“Small steps can be taken. People should not go to extremes on it, but not be in denial. Consume less. Use fewer resources. The entire world is becoming more aware all the time. These problems have the potential to unite the world.”

Melissa Pickett can be reached in Santa Fe at SoulWays Education and Healing Center, 1925 Aspen Drive, 900-B, Santa Fe 87505, (505) 986-0323.

Katherine Saltzstein is a freelance writer in Albuquerque