Links between heat-humidity and violence due to mental health and well-being conditions have been examined.Violence prevention, for people with and without mental health conditions, would sever many possible links.
If our health systems fully served people with mental health and well-being conditions exacerbated by heat-humidity, then these warnings would permit risk reduction, prevention, planning, and preparedness. Options could be adjusting medications or their dosages, providing care and support to make it through the excessively hot-humid episode, and offering breaks from work and other activities to stay cool and relaxed.
Imagine if someone kills their spouse or robs a stranger and says, “Yes, I did it. It was particularly hot and humid, so it was really about the weather. In fact, let’s blame, so I am not responsible”. Conversely, many justice systems have provisions for people with mental health and well-being conditions who commit crimes, seeking to support them in improving rather than locking them away without adequate mental healthcare.
It is the standard mantra that prevention is better than cure. Better for avoiding violence and better for everyone, with or without diagnosable conditions, who swelters in the heat and who is understandably mentally stressed by it.Florido Ngu, F., I. Kelman, J. Chambers, and S. Ayeb-Karlsson. 2021. “Correlating heatwaves and relative humidity with suicide ”. Scientific Reports, vol. 11, article 22175.