Advancing a clinical transport psychology

This article argues that mental disorders are a dimension so far largely overlooked in studies of transport behaviour and mobility consumption, even though they may to a considerable degree affect how we understand, value, and use different transport modes. Mental disorders include anxiety-, mood-, substance abuse-, and personality disorders, each of which affects only up to a few per cent of the population in industrialised countries. On an aggregated basis, however, mental illnesses influence large parts of the population. Based on an exploratory research approach, this article discusses how mental disorders affect, and are affected by, mobility consumption, also identifying social, political and/or institutional mechanisms that contribute to or validate mental disorders. It is argued that without a better understanding of these interrelationships, mobility consumption and -growth cannot be fully understood. Results are consequently of relevance for transport planning, the prevention of accidents, as well as the design of interventions to develop more sustainable transport systems.

► The role of mental disorders in transport behaviour is discussed.
► Linkages between mental disorders and transport behaviour are categorised.
► Mental disorders are potentially highly relevant for transport behaviour.
► Various mechanisms validate mental disorders and unsustainable transport behaviour.