Governance
Adolescent Mental Health Crisis
- 26 Feb 2026
- 10 min read
For Prelims: Economic Survey 2025-26, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Poverty, WHO, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), Tele MANAS, Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs), District Mental Health Programme (DMHP), Kiran Helpline, Manodarpan.
For Mains: Scenario of mental health in India, Factors behind adolescent mental health crisis in India, measures required to improve adolescent mental health in India.
Why in News?
Recent tragic incidents involving adolescents have spotlighted India’s deepening child and teenage mental health crisis, rooted in early vulnerability and worsened by an unregulated digital environment.
- The Economic Survey 2025-26 has acknowledged these challenges, proposing preventive strategies and sparking discussions on regulatory measures for social media use.
Summary
- India faces a high prevalence and severe treatment gap in adolescent mental health.
- Digital overuse, academic pressure, stigma, and systemic shortages worsen vulnerabilities.
- Strengthened school interventions, expanded tele-mental health, regulatory reforms, and increased funding are essential to prevent future crises
What is Fueling the Adolescent Mental Health Crisis in India?
- Academic and Competitive Pressure: The education system's focus on high-stakes examinations and cut-throat competition creates chronic anxiety. Parental and societal expectations tied to academic success as a path to social mobility lead to a fear of failure, with board exam-related stress being a major trigger for depression, especially in higher classes.
- Pervasive Digital Impact: The widespread use of smartphones among over 800 million Indians has led to excessive screen time and internet addiction. This contributes to cyberbullying, body shaming, and sleep disruption, blurring the lines between online and real life and exacerbating anxiety and social withdrawal.
- Dysfunctional Family Dynamics: Family environments marked by parental discord, over-control, neglect, or excessive expectations are strongly linked to poor mental health outcomes. An emphasis on achievement over emotional well-being fosters feelings of inadequacy and heightened pressure in adolescents.
- Socio-Economic and Environmental Stressors: Factors like urbanization, poverty, migration, and violence increase vulnerability. Gender disparities are notable, with females often reporting higher rates of anxiety and depression due to social norms and discrimination.
- Systemic Gaps and Stigma: Persistent stigma discourages help-seeking, leading families to intervene only during crises. This is compounded by a severe shortage of mental health professionals (far below the WHO norm of 3 per 100,000) and a lack of school-based support, which delays early intervention.
- Lingering Pandemic Effects: The Covid-19 pandemic introduced acute stressors like social isolation, bereavement, and disrupted routines, which amplified pre-existing vulnerabilities and triggered a surge in mental health symptoms among adolescents.
What is the Scenario of Mental Health in India?
- Widespread Prevalence: One in ten adults in India currently suffers from a mental disorder. Over 15% of the adult population needs active intervention, indicating a widespread public health concern.
- The lifetime risk is even higher, with nearly 14% of Indians likely to face a mental health issue at some point in their lives.
- Vulnerable Adolescents: Population-level data from the National Mental Health Survey 2015–16 suggests that 7% to 10% of Indian adolescents have diagnosable mental health conditions. Additionally, 5% to 7% of school-aged children have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
- Suicide as a Youth Epidemic: Suicide is a leading cause of death among Indian youth aged 15–29, with India's suicide rate at 12.6 per 100,000—significantly above the global average of 9.2.
- Urban-Rural Burden: The prevalence is notably higher in urban areas (13.5%) compared to rural areas (6.9%). This is likely linked to higher stress levels, isolation, and competitive pressures in cities.
- Human and Economic Cost: India bears an immense burden of disease, measured at 2443 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 population.
- The financial toll is projected to be a staggering USD 1.03 trillion in economic losses between 2012 and 2030, stemming from lost productivity and healthcare costs.
- Critical Treatment Gap: There is a staggering 70% to 92% treatment gap for individuals with mental disorders who do not receive any treatment. India has only 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, which is just one-fourth of the WHO's recommended ratio of 3 per 100,000.
Initiatives Related to Mental Health in India
What Measures are Required to Improve Adolescent Mental Health in India?
- Strengthen School-Based Interventions: Integrate mandatory socio-emotional learning (SEL) and life skills education into curricula, aligned with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) priorities.
- All schools should appoint qualified counsellors, following the Kota model, and train teachers to identify early signs of student distress—a framework that can be replicated nationwide.
- Scale up Tele MANAS with adolescent-specific modules and multilingual support for 24/7 confidential access. Strengthen Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs) under RKSK.
- Peer-Led and Community-Based Support: Train adolescents as peer supporters using frameworks like UNICEF-NIMHANS "I Support My Friends" to enable first-line support and link peers to professional help. Foster community networks and helplines, especially for marginalized groups.
- Address Systemic and Structural Barriers: Increase budgetary allocation for mental health to expand infrastructure, including 25 Centres of Excellence and district-level integration via the District Mental Health Programme (DMHP).
- The Union Budget 2026-27 proposed a second NIMHANS campus to be established in northern India, which currently lacks a national-level mental health institute. The National Mental Health Institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur will be elevated to Regional Apex Institutions.
- Regulate Risk Factors and Build Evidence: Enforce protective measures against risk factors like excessive social media use (e.g., Australia became the world's first country to ban social media for children under 16 years old) and cyberbullying (implement NCPCR guidelines on Preventing Bullying and Cyberbullying: Guidelines to. Schools (2024)). Strengthen surveillance, longitudinal research, and state-level disaggregated data collection to monitor trends and inform culturally sensitive adaptations.
- Enhance Family and Parental Involvement: Launch awareness campaigns and parenting programs to equip families with tools for supportive communication and to address high parental pressure. Utilize frontline workers (e.g., ASHAs) through platforms like RKSK to foster open discussions and reduce stigma at the household level.
Conclusion
India’s escalating adolescent mental health crisis demands a systemic, preventive, and rights-based response. Bridging the treatment gap, strengthening school and family ecosystems, regulating digital risks, and expanding community-based services are imperative. Sustained funding, stigma reduction, and institutional accountability will be crucial to transform fragmented interventions into a resilient, youth-centric mental health framework.
|
Drishti Mains Question: Q. Analyze the key factors fueling India's adolescent mental health crisis and propose a way forward, considering its profound socio-economic consequences |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the prevalence of mental health conditions among Indian adolescents?
According to the National Mental Health Survey, 7% to 10% of Indian adolescents have diagnosable mental health conditions, and 5% to 7% of school-aged children have ADHD.
2. What is India's psychiatrist-to-population ratio, and how does it compare to WHO standards?
India has only 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, which is just one-fourth of the WHO's recommended ratio of 3 per 100,000.
3. What are the key government initiatives for mental health in India?
Key initiatives include the National Mental Health Programme (NMHP), Tele MANAS, the Mental Healthcare Act 2017, and school-based programs like Manodarpan.
UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)
Mains
Q. In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate health care policies are needed particularly in the fields of geriatric and maternal health care.Discuss. (2020)
Q. Appropriate local community-level healthcare intervention is a prerequisite to achieve ‘Health for All’ in India. Explain. (2018)
