Mental health was once taboo. In many homes, it still can be. But today, scroll past the feed of any Gen Z netizen and you will see it: Therapy memes. Self-care rituals. A whole Instagram carousel on burnout.
The narrative has shifted significantly, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. What used to be shameful is now a scrollable conversation. Gen Z opened the conversational gates that the previous generations could not. Mental health has become a part of their identity. From music and memes to how they choose jobs, relationships, and even brands.
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But here’s the real picture: India’s digital mental health market is at $1.15 billion. Yet, over 85 per cent of the need is still unmet. We just have 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 people. Nearly 197 million Indians are affected, but the majority of them are still undiagnosed.
So, are we confusing visibility and conversation with understanding? How did we get here?
Millennials walked so Gen Z could talk
Millennials were the first to question hustle culture. While they got their foot in the door, mental health was a personal journey rather than a public conversation.
However, Gen Z kicked the door wide open. They made being expressive and aware a new normal. Reels, memes, and TikToks became the avenue to shatter the stigma. Terms like ‘gaslighting’, ’boundaries,’ and ‘burnout’ are part of the lingo.
For better or for worse, these digital natives converted therapy-speak into a trend.
Why this transition from ‘Conceal’ to ‘Heal’ matters
Gen Z normalising mental health brought a real impact. It created a space for permission. Permission to struggle without hiding. Permission to ask for help without being apologetic.
Struggles became a relatable phenomenon. It was not embarrassing to bare your heart anymore. That shift, when somebody felt seen, mattered. When their experiences were reflected back, they felt less alone.
Along with destigmatisation, access to resources also became easier. Teletherapy gained prominence. Campus counselors proved to be invaluable resources. Apps promoting mental well-being hit every app store. In fact, meditation and mindfulness apps held the largest share of the Gen Z mental health market in 2024 at 38.12 per cent, showing how self-guided breathing, journaling, and mobile-first care are becoming default tools for this generation.
Workplaces too responded to this new normal. The younger generations demanded better working conditions, in addition to mental health days, flexibility, and work-life balance. Employee wellness became a non-negotiable. In 2025, 62 per cent of Gen Zs and millennials said their employer takes mental health seriously, up roughly 8 per cent from the previous year, which is a sign that the push is starting to show real results.
People found communities. Safe spaces were created to be open and free about the struggles and joys of their mental wellness journey. Support systems that didn’t exist before now do. Both in online and offline capacities.
But there’s a flipside to this fluency in therapy speak
Awareness does not necessarily lead to empathy. When therapy-speak results in aesthetics like ‘sad girl era’ or ‘burnout core,’ it trivialises the very problem it is trying to spotlight.
Gen Z is chronically online. But this has some repercussions attached to it. Ironically, access to mental well-being is also through their devices. This has brought forward some problems:
Overdiagnosis and self-labelling: Every other person has turned into a psychoanalyst. This has enabled rampant overdiagnosis. A bad day is often interpreted as depression. Every worry is an anxiety disorder. Clinical terms are being exploited to the point that they mean nothing.
Anxiety echo chambers: Often, after stumbling on mental health content, one gets overwhelmed with information. This leads to stress. Hyperawareness makes minor issues eventually get more attention than they need.
Performative vulnerability: Sharing often comes with a paradox. By sharing vulnerability, people often indicate that they have overcome it. The depth gets hidden in embellishment and exaggeration, often to farm views.
Stigma didn’t disappear. But we’ve found better ways to move through it.
We may not have solved everything, but we’ve started showing up differently. More conversations. More openness. And most importantly, more students are finding ways to support themselves and each other even when therapy feels out of reach.
Yes, stigma still exists. It looks different now. Sometimes it’s subtle. Sometimes it’s internal. But instead of letting it silence us, this generation is learning how to move through it. From peer support circles and campus communities to journaling, therapy, and a lot more, Gen Z is building their own tools for care.
Building real solutions that work for us
The next step is not just awareness, but access. Real solutions don’t always have to live in clinics, they can live on campuses, in conversations, and in culture. Mental health can look like mentorship programs that teach emotional skills, student-led collectives that make expression safe, or digital platforms that connect young people with accessible help. It can also look like small systemic shifts: colleges prioritising rest, workplaces normalising boundaries, and communities creating safe spaces without judgement. These are the things that create sustainable change. Not overnight, but over time. Even something as simple as teaching kids about emotional regulation in schools can create a massive shift for the next generation.
Where we go from here
We are more open. But openness is just the first layer.
Now it’s about going deeper, creating everyday habits, not just awareness. It’s checking in on friends without waiting for them to say something’s wrong. It’s student clubs making space for healing without making it heavy. Care doesn’t have to look like therapy to be valid.
The goal is not to glamorise mental health. And it’s not to overcomplicate it either. The goal is to make feeling better a little easier every single day.
Mention this within a box
Mental-health content grew 180 per cent on Indian social media between 2020–2024
80 per cent of Gen Z candidates prefer companies with explicit mental-health policies.
The writer is CEO, Under25.