Mountaintop Coal Mining may Increase Risk of Depression

People that live in hazardous environmental areas are often more prone to physical injury, various health issues and even death. However, they can also be prone to cognitive and behavioral impacts that might have previously been undiagnosed. 

A recent study looks at those living in the destructive environments of mountaintop coal mining and how these individuals face an increased risk of major depression. 

Study results showed, in fact, that coal mining regions of Central Appalachia that explored the relationship between psychological health and environmental degradation show individuals with greater depressive symptoms than other environments. 

According to lead study authors Michael Hendryx from Indian Unviersity, Bloomington, and Kestrel Innes-Wimsatt of West Virginia University, Morgantown, they compared depressive symptoms among adults that lived in areas with and without mountaintop coal mining based on a form of large-scale mining that uses explosives and heavy machinery to remove forests, rock and soil above coal seams and results in increased local air and water pollution. 

"Vital empirical data on the importance of nature for human well being are presented in this timely study," Editor-in-Chief Peter H. Kahn, Jr., PhD, Professor, Department of Psychology and Director, Human Interaction With Nature and Technological Systems (HINTS) Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, WA said, via a press release. 

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More information regarding the study can be found via the website Ecopsychology.