Gen Z: Therapy and Mental Health in the 2020s

Gen Z: Therapy and Mental Health in the 2020s

Mental health awareness has become trendy over the past few years. Last week, I was walking in a market in the middle of Lisbon, Portugal, and found a vendor. Shirts read: “I hope you heal from the problems nobody knows about”, “Chat GPT is not a therapist”, and “This was made for overthinkers by overthinkers”. It had me thinking about the shift in how mental health is talked about, and how this can benefit many members of Gen Z who are now in major life stages.

The youngest members of Gen Z are just entering high school. The oldest members are establishing themselves in careers in emerging adulthood. As we are entering these roles, taking care of those difficulties others aren’t aware of while also addressing common challenges in this stage of life are crucial and more accessible than ever! Booking a therapy session can now be as easy as a click of a button on a website. You can attend a session from the comfort of your own home, or in the comfort of a calming counseling center. These options are things previous generations didn’t have access to at our stage of life. We are looking around and finding more reminders, like the shop, that taking care of mental health, and attending mental health treatment are important.

Mental health is more than just attending therapy though. It’s a way of living! There are 168 hours in a week, and the hour in therapy, the 1/168 of the week can offer a powerful launching pad for how to optimize the remaining 167 hours, yes even those sleeping ones! Yes, even therapists like myself attend therapy! Many people may have the misconception that therapy is about “getting cured” or “trying to fix oneself” but this is certainly not the case! It is actually more aligned with “further exploring oneself and managing how to work with both the challenges and triumphs of life”. Even with increasing societal awareness, stigma still does exist, and it is important for our young generation to combat those stigmas, which can make us a happier, healthier cohort.

You may have heard of the word self-care. This is something that is very much emphasized throughout therapy. Self-care is about exploring and experiencing strategies that can help maintain a sense of presence, reflection, and calmness. Many of you may enjoy writing, drawing, singing, dancing, yoga, meditation, conversations with those you feel safe with, sports, napping, even video games! These can all be forms of self-care if utilized in a way that is benefitting you, in moderation, and allows you to feel a sense of accomplishment and calm.

Whether you are in therapy or not, there are so many possible ways to go about self-care, and doing this is crucial in the midst of Gen Z challenges. Perhaps some of these examples speak to you: giving yourself a few minutes break to do something you like in the midst of studying for a high school history exam, writing down positive affirmations before you put on your soccer uniform before a big college championship, or putting away your phone and cleaning up while listening to your favorite music for just an hour after hours of doomscrolling. Everyone can engage in self-care in different ways, but it can be powerful in many ways.

I hope this article offered, if anything, a perspective that mental health care is important, and so is combatting stigma. We are a generation that has faced a lot of collective resilience with also individual challenges. You deserve, no matter the extent of what you are going through, space to do meaningful, but also enjoyable work to feel the best you possibly can.