How Gen Z Is Transforming Mental Wellness

Our generation is the first to grow up entirely online, facing unique digital and real-world stressors that no previous generation has experienced. We witness an economic recession, climate change, a pandemic and warfare through our screens and are exposed to extensive social comparison and cyberbullying on social media. This doesn’t leave us unaffected. Every third Gen Zer lives with a mental illness, more than twice as many as people above 50. Despite the serious challenges Gen Z faces, our reaction is far from passive suffering. We are challenging stigma, actively seeking help, and building communities that prove mental health support can be effective and empowering. This active transformation benefits not only our generation but our society as a whole.

So here’s how Gen Z is transforming mental wellness.

Taking ownership of our mental health - in conventional and unconventional ways

Around 40% of Gen Zers go to therapy. To put this into perspective: only half as many baby boomers do. Besides professional psychotherapy, a large majority of us uses easily accessible self-help tools like books, podcasts, and journaling. Even manifesting and creating vision boards as more unconventional methods help Gen Zers to creatively deal with psychological stressors. We feel like therapy, more time with friends and family, and lifestyle changes in diet, sleep or exercising are most helpful to increase our mental wellbeing. And when social media becomes too much, we take a break from it to protect our mental wellbeing.

Our strategies and tools seem to be fruitful: While Gen Z was initially more vulnerable than older generations to stress during the global pandemic, we were faster with adapting coping mechanisms and utilising treatment. The number of Gen Zers going to therapy has almost doubled after the pandemic. This demonstrates resilience and active ownership of our mental wellbeing.

Being confident and open about mental health - challenging stigma

In older generations, stigmas about mental illnesses are still widespread. Lots of them hold misconceptions and perceive it as a taboo to talk about mental health. Unfortunately, they tend to avoid accepting their own mental illness which interferes with their healing process as a consequence.

But not Gen Z: Almost all that go to therapy openly tell others about it. We have a better understanding of mental health, can more easily identify signs and symptoms of mental illness, and have knowledge of where to seek help. While in some older generations people still think one can just switch off or stop over-thinking about their mental health, Gen Zers realise that mental illness is never chosen and is an aspect of one’s life that needs to be addressed. We grew up in a culture where calling stigmas out as unacceptable is common and mental health education has been increasingly integrated in our educational curricula. Asking for help for our mental health is perceived as a strength rather than a weakness - and rightfully so. We evaluate the mental health communication skills of baby boomers as worst, while younger generations are better off.

We, on the contrary, are confident in our communication skills when it comes to mental health. That’s great since open discussions about mental health can reduce stigma and foster a supportive environment. Accordingly, campaigns like sharing tips, resources, and success stories resonate with Gen Z. This yields great potential, since there are lots of enriching communities and valuable pages talking about mental health on social media (see our side quest for some input). Still, I want to note that social media also yields risks such as misinformation and promotion of unhealthy lifestyle choices when it comes to mental health. We should therefore always check and critically assess resources on social media.

So, next time you hear someone say Gen Z is arrogant, lazy, and unreliable, hit them with the stats.

Side quest of the week:

Here are some of my favourite advocates for mental health - check them out if you want!

@elliemidds on Instagram - Autism & ADHD

@hannahtrenches on Instagram and Youtube - talks openly about going to therapy and shares unfiltered snippets from her life

Where Should We Begin? With Esther Parel - A podcast where one can eavesdrop on real therapy sessions with Esther Parel, an iconic psychotherapist

With love,

Jen

Subscribe to The AMII Safe-Space™ so you never miss an issue.