Christopher Nikendei

Global warming poses a fundamental threat to our ecosystems and our entire civilisation. However, although the scientific facts are overwhelming, the causes, potential danger and the necessary consequences are assessed completely differently from person to person.

Which cognitive distortions in humans cause important “alarm reactions” to fail to materialize? Which processes lead to the gap between knowledge on the one hand and (insufficient) willingness to act on the other? Psychodynamic and traumatological considerations offer a profound understanding of the discrepancy between “knowledge and belief” and “knowledge and action”.

Christoph Nikendei is senior consultant at the University Hospital in Heidelberg and heads the Psychotraumatology Section. He is also the medical director of the outpatient clinic of the Centre for Psychosocial Medicine at the Patrick-Henry-Village in Heidelberg.