It Is 85 Seconds to a Midnight Global Catastrophe

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

In the last column centering on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we also covered the resetting of the Doomsday Clock by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. That clock is not run like our own everyday clocks. Rather, it was created in 1947 after the catastrophic dangers of new technology for weapons. For no good reason other than “it looked good to my eyes,” the clock was set at 7 minutes to midnight, so that the percentage of risk movement is quite substantial now—it has been reset at 85 seconds to midnight, just a little over 1 minute instead of 7 minutes. Climate change was added as a major risk in 2007.

In March of 2025, the Atomic Scientists called out the mental health correlates of the Doomsday Clock.¹ A review of studies indicated strong negative correlations between the clock settings and mortality related to suicide, substance disorders, and unintentional injuries. The data suggest that in times of greater societal threats, like now, there seems to be higher mortality and disease.

Back when I was growing up in the 1950s and nuclear bomb shelters were built, the nuclear risks were well-known. Probably the intense anxiety about it crept into psychotherapy, just as it is now with climate instability. Clinically, it behooves the clinician to be able to ask about existential anxieties, especially now, but also not in countertransference to go overboard in foisting such concerns onto the patient.

Recently, biosecurity and the use of artificial intelligence (AI)have been added to the main risks. However, public relations nowadays are much more challenging due to the increased use of “alternative facts” and conspiracy theories on uncountable numbers of reaffirming online echo chambers. Instead of global cooperation, it looks like global competition to be the greatest power.

The Atomic Scientists still have hope that these catastrophes can be avoided. Among their suggestions are:

• The US and Russia limiting their nuclear arsenal
• Reduce the risks of AI to create biological threats and more destructive weapons
• Develop more renewable energy like geothermal

In psychiatric organizations like the American Psychiatric Association, peace projects of all kinds can be begun and developed, as well as providing leadership consultation like the late Jerrold Post once did usefully. Nothing less than collective suicide and homicide is at stake.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

Reference

1. Sinclair SJ, Silbersweig D. Apocalypse now? Mortality and mental health correlates of the Doomsday Clock. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. March 12, 2025. Accessed January 29, 2026. https://thebulletin.org/premium/2025-03/apocalypse-now-mortality-and-mental-health-correlates-of-the-doomsday-clock/