Mental health burden on young adults is reaching a tipping point. Is it too late?

Mental health has become a topic that is everywhere these days. From reels to classrooms, the health of our minds is being discussed and debated extensively, with counselling and therapy booming in India. But despite this welcome trend, the latest data by the National Crime Records Bureau or NCRB paints a grim picture. In 2023, suicides among students rose to a record high of 13,892. This is a 64.9 % increase from 2013.

So what changed in a decade, and are India’s young adults in danger? On World Mental Health Day, WION talks to experts to get to the root cause of mental health struggles in young people. Read more!

Pressure to Succeed

Young adults today face increased academic and career-related pressures, with jobs being scarce and teenagers often being forced to prepare for gruellingly hard competitive exams, not helped by the pressure put on them by their parents to succeed.

Dr Jamuna Rajeswaran, Head of the Department at the Department of Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS, Bangalore, says that ‘young people are especially vulnerable: late adolescence and early adulthood are marked by identity formation, steep expectations (both self-imposed and from family), and transitions, between school and coaching, or moving cities to prepare for competitive exams.’

Dr Rajeswaran adds that “in Kota, the famous coaching hub, a study found that between January 2022 and February 2025, at least 24 student suicides were reported among enrolments in coaching centres. Seventeen of these occurred in the period just before exams, and many of the affected students had previously scored over 80% in Class 10, making them acutely aware of the gap between past success and imminent expectations.”

This signals the growing pressure that students feel to succeed amid near-impossible odds. The chances of getting into India’s premier engineering college, the Indian Institute of Technology or IIT, are 1.2% in 2025. It is to be noted that the odds of getting into Harvard University are 3.4%.

‘Frivolous’ or ‘Unserious’ Generation

The Generation Z, or those born in the late 1990s, are often called ‘unserious’ and ‘frivolous’ by older generations, with teachers and managers often complaining about their ‘lack of ethics’ and them not wanting to work hard enough. But is this really true, and do these preconceived notions increase the mental toll that this generation faces?

Dr Mohammed Afsar, Assistant Professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology at the Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, says that “the idea that Gen Z is 'frivolous' or 'not serious' misses the more complex, serious ways in which they are re-defining work and success.”

He adds that “what fuels the stereotype of Gen Z as unserious are visible differences in how they express ambition. Gen Z moves jobs more often, experiments with freelancing or side-projects, values work that aligns with personal values rather than just prestige, and tends to demand new norms (flexible hours, remote options, mental health supports) that older generations may interpret as lack of commitment.”

The Social Media Generation

India is one of the largest users of the internet, with Indians spending up to 7 hours online, with 2.5 of those being spent on apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and more, according to the Digital 2025 India Report.

But does this affect the mental health of its users?

Dr Rajeswaran says that “young people are particularly vulnerable to mental-health challenges due to a blend of developmental, social, and structural pressures — and social media can act both as a risk amplifier and a resource, depending on how it’s used.”

“Analyses show a consistent though modest association between heavier or problematic social media use and higher depressive or anxiety symptoms in young adults, especially when use is passive (scrolling). However, social media doesn’t always cause distress but can worsen it in those already vulnerable,” she adds.

She highlights a particularly disturbing case in which a 17-year-old girl from India’s Madhya Pradesh staged a ‘suicide reel’ on social media, appearing to take poison in a short video captioned “Pyaar ki khushi ke liye … goodbye”, reportedly motivated by the low engagement on her earlier posts. The footage went viral, causing police alarm and prompting a rescue; investigations later revealed she had only ingested salt and was seeking attention rather than self-harm.

Thus, social media clearly has an impact on young people’s mental health, but it depends on how one uses it.

Gaps in Access to Mental Health Support

While the need for mental health support is ever-increasing in India, access to it is often defined by how rich one is.

The average cost of a private therapy session is a minimum of INR 1000 ( $11.27) per session. For a country whose per capita income per month is INR 17,000 ($191), this is unbearably high.

But there are several ways in which this gap can be bridged.

Dr Afsar says that “India already has several promising building blocks — for example, the Tele-MANAS programme launched in 2022 is a national tele-mental-health network offering free, 24×7 counselling in multiple Indian languages; it has handled over 10 lakh calls since its launch, and in states like Telangana more than 1.38 lakh calls have come in for issues ranging from anxiety and depression to suicidal thoughts.”

What is required is a concerted effort by the authorities to bring such services to the common person.

A Ticking Time Bomb

The mental health of India, one of the youngest countries in the world, with the average citizen being only 28 years old, should be one of the most important agendas of its government. But the country currently spends only 1% of its entire health budget on mental health, signalling a disaster waiting to happen. The time has come for the country to awaken to the mental burden that young people face and tackle it before it is too late.