Rethinking Mental Health: A System Under Strain

Every year, one in four adults in the U.S. experiences a diagnosable mental disorder, often overlapping with anxiety or substance use. But these issues don’t appear in isolation; they emerge from how people cope with the adversarial situations life throws at them. When challenges become prolonged and unbearable, the mind and body begin to break down.

Anxiety and depression are not diseases in themselves; they are signs of a system under stress. When those emotions become overwhelming, many look for an escape, often through substance use. It’s a response, not a permanent condition.

The human system is not built to run nonstop. Imagine driving a car meant for city roads across a terrain designed for all-terrain vehicles. The suspension wears out, the tires lose grip, the brakes strain, and the engine overheats. The car doesn’t stop working because it’s defective; it simply wasn’t designed for that kind of strain. The same applies to human beings. When pushed too hard for too long, something gives way.

That’s why looking to workplaces, healthcare systems, or policymakers to solve this crisis may be too late. The problem doesn’t begin there, and neither does the solution. The starting point lies in understanding why people reach that point of collapse in the first place.

The same pattern plays out among young adults, where conditions like depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia often surface in the late teens and twenties. Much of it stems from disconnection. When children grow up with strained relationships with their parents, they stop sharing their feelings and frustrations at home. Instead, they turn to friends, often peers, facing the same struggles. In the process, one blind person ends up leading another, each validating the other’s confusion.

The goal shouldn’t be to wait for people to fall and then help them up. The real work lies in preventing the fall altogether.

“We are the most comfortable generation in human history, yet half the world feels lost,” says V K Vinod Sreekumar, Founder & CEO, PracticeSuite. “Maybe it’s time we stop trying to fix people after they fall, and start helping them not fall in the first place.”