Published Feb 05, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Feb 05, 2026 | 11:11 AM
(Representational image/Creative Commons)
Synopsis: Public conversations around suicide or mental health crises among young professionals often swing between blame and disbelief. In clinical reality, the truth is quieter and more complex. Most crises do not emerge overnight, they build gradually shaped by stress, isolation, stigma, and delayed access to care. While no system can prevent every tragedy, early recognition, non-judgmental responses, and sustained treatment can significantly reduce risk.
At Maarga Mind Care, our psychiatrists and clinical psychologists are increasingly meeting young adults for the first time at moments of acute distress. Many are bright, capable, and outwardly successful, yet emotionally exhausted. They have been functioning, performing, and self-coping in silence for far longer than anyone around them may have even realised.
What we are seeing more frequently is not a sudden breakdown, but the culmination of months or years of unaddressed psychological strain. Depression, anxiety disorders, substance use, bipolar disorder, and other severe mental illnesses are often recognised only at a crisis point.
Public conversations around suicide or mental health crises among young professionals often swing between blame and disbelief. In clinical reality, the truth is quieter and more complex. Most crises do not emerge overnight, they build gradually shaped by stress, isolation, stigma, and delayed access to care. While no system can prevent every tragedy, early recognition, non-judgmental responses, and sustained treatment can significantly reduce risk.
In India’s urban work culture, chronic stress is often normalised and even rewarded. Long hours, constant availability, high expectations, and frequent job transitions are treated as markers of ambition. Within this environment, early signs of mental illness are easily missed or misinterpreted. At Maarga Mind Care, clinicians often hear patients say they did not realise they were unwell for they considered themselves to be only tired, burnt out, or not coping well enough.
Symptoms may appear as social withdrawal, loss of interest, changes in sleep or appetite, increased reliance on alcohol, nicotine, or sedatives, or physical complaints such as headaches, gastric issues, and unexplained body pain. These signals frequently go unaddressed—by families, workplaces, and sometimes by the individuals themselves.
More concerning warning signs like persistent hopelessness, feeling like a burden, reckless behaviour, giving away possessions, or casual references to death are often noticed only in hindsight. Sometimes individuals appear calmer just before a crisis, not because they are improving, but because they have lost hope. None of these signs guarantee imminent danger, but each represents a missed opportunity for timely intervention.
A significant gap remains the stigma surrounding mental health care. Many young adults delay seeking help due to fears that a diagnosis will affect marriage prospects, career growth, background checks, or social standing. Others worry about lifelong labels, dependency on medication, or being perceived as weak. As a result, people often reach clinical settings only when symptoms become severe and disruptive.
Families and workplaces, though often well-intentioned, may unintentionally contribute to these delays. Emotional distress is sometimes framed as a discipline issue, a motivation problem, or a temporary phase. In organisational settings, mental health is still frequently treated either as a performance issue or a liability, rather than a health concern. The outcome in both cases is postponement of care.
At Maarga Mind Care, clinicians emphasise that severe mental illness is neither rare nor a character flaw. Early intervention is associated with better outcomes, while delayed intervention often increases complexity and risk. Mental health care requires an integrated, ongoing medical, psychological, and social approach.
Continuity of care remains one of the largest gaps. Since symptoms fluctuate patients may feel better temporarily and stop treatment prematurely; therapy can initially surface painful material before relief sets in; external stressors such as work pressure may subside and then return. Without consistent follow-up, early warning signs often go unnoticed until another crisis emerges.
When appropriate and with consent, family involvement can play a crucial role in recovery by reducing triggers, supporting treatment adherence, and recognising early relapse. Equally important is helping families move away from minimising distress, moralising symptoms, or turning treatment into a debate about willpower.
Workplaces also have a critical role to play. Simple structural changes like reasonable workloads, clear expectations, predictable time off, and psychologically safe teams can make early help-seeking more likely and crises less likely. Managers trained to notice behavioural changes and respond with non-judgmental language can become an important first line of support.
As mental health professionals, we see that earlier conversations save time, suffering, and sometimes lives. If we can close the gaps between distress and care by replacing silence, stigma, and delay with accessible, sustained, and compassionate support more young adults can find the path back long before the edge feels like the only option.
Dr. Krutika Ainapur is a Senior Consultant Adult Psychiatrist and Sexologist at Maarga Mind Care, Bangalore, with over 12 years of clinical experience. She specialises in mood and anxiety disorders, psychosis, substance-use disorders, and adolescent mental health, offering patient-centred care through medication and psychotherapy. Dr. Ainapur is committed to reducing mental health stigma through compassionate practice, education, and advocacy.
(Views expressed here are personal, edited by Sumavarsha)
