Mental Health Concerns among Youth in Bengaluru Reflect Anxiety, Depression, Relationship Issues, and Substance Use: Mpower
Bengaluru: Youth mental health in India is under mounting strain, according to fresh insights from Mpower, an initiative of the Aditya Birla Education Trust. Between 2022 and 2025, Mpower engaged with over 15,400 youth aged 18–25 through its Bengaluru-based centres, helplines, and campus outreach programmes, and reached over 527,000 young adults Pan India through its centres, helplines, and campus initiatives.
Mental health concerns in Bengaluru reflect the pressures of a fast-paced urban lifestyle. Anxiety and panic disorders are prevalent, often triggered by academic, career, and social pressures. Depression is also common, sharing similar triggers, particularly among students and young professionals. Relationship discord, including breakups, divorces, and ambiguous friendships, is widespread among young adults. Additionally, substance use is on the rise among teens, young, and middle-aged adults, with men slightly more affected during periods of stress.
To respond to this growing challenge, Mpower mobilised a nationwide campaign across 50 colleges in 12 states, creating safe spaces for students to openly discuss and address their mental health. Activities included symbolic exercises like the “Art of Letting Go” Balloon Activity in KR Puram, Bengaluru—where students released balloons carrying their worries—alongside peer-led workshops and interactive sessions that encouraged dialogue, expression, and healing.
Placed against the national backdrop, the urgency becomes starker. NCRB data shows suicide remains the leading cause of death among young Indians, with a 65% increase between 2013 and 2023. With over 250 million youth in India, the need for stigma-free, accessible, and integrated mental health support cannot be delayed.
Mrs. Neerja Birla, Founder & Chairperson of Mpower, ABET said, “India’s youth hold immense potential, yet many struggle in silence and addressing this is a collective responsibility of us as a society. Our vision of Swasth Yuva Bharat is to nurture a generation that is resilient, mentally strong and emotionally balanced, achieved through early interventions in schools, empowering educators and strengthening peer networks and counselling support. At Mpower, we work with educational institutions on early intervention programs and promote mental health literacy in communities to create safe spaces where young people feel heard and empowered. This World Mental Health Day, it is time to move from awareness to action and make seeking help normalised.”
Beyond campuses, Mpower continues to expand its initiatives into workplaces and communities. The Corporate Mental Health Pledge has united organisations nationwide in embedding mental health into workplace culture, while the Human Library initiative enables adolescents and young adults to share lived experiences of anxiety, bullying, and resilience, fostering empathy, reducing stigma, and equipping peers with practical coping strategies.
