Akshita Pandey; Gayatri Kotbagi | A decade ago, most Indians would hesitate to even whisper about depression, anxiety, or therapy. Today, mental health hashtags trend on Instagram, celebrities openly discuss their struggles, and companies host “wellness weeks.” At first glance, this feels like progress where the stigma of silence is finally breaking. But there’s a catch! As mental health moves from clinics to social media feeds, the conversation risks swinging from stigmatisation to overgeneralisation. Overgeneralization of mental health on social media occurs when users draw broad conclusions from limited or curated content, leading to self-diagnosis, a distorted view of mental health, and increased anxiety. What was once hidden is now at risk of being trivialised, commodified, and misunderstood.

This shift is pertinent because India stands at a fragile point. Nearly 15% of the population lives with some form of mental illness, yet the country has fewer than 10,000 psychiatrists for 1.4 billion people (WHO, 2025). Today, social media contributes to an overgeneralization of mental‐health struggles, where non-expert influencers promulgate broad, non-nuanced health claims that can mislead young audiences. In a pre-registered experimental study, recent experimental research by Jaroslava Kaňková et al. (2025) found that over-generalised health messaging from social media influencers like “everyone with anxiety will feel like this” or “this one habit fixes depression” produced just as harmful outcomes (e.g., reduced belief accuracy, increased unsafe behavioural intention) as outright misinformation. Complementing this, an editorial by Ahuja and Fichadia (2024) argues that social media often romanticizes and glorifies mental illness, leading to self-diagnosis, echo chambers, and a kind of status-symbol mental health discourse, especially among Gen Z (Ahuja & Fichadia, 2024). Together, these dynamics risk trivializing serious psychiatric conditions by flattening the spectrum of mental health into trendy identity labels, rather than encouraging accurate understanding or professional help.

Nearly 15% of the population lives with some form of mental illness, yet the country has fewer than 10,000 psychiatrists.

While stigma has long been recognised as a barrier, a newer challenge has emerged in parallel with rising awareness which is the commodification of mental health. As social media and the wellness industry expand, mental health is increasingly packaged as a product rather than a public good. Influencers, self-help apps, and wellness brands often promote quick fixes, motivational slogans, or mindfulness bundles as ready-made solutions for complex psychological problems. On the positive side, these platforms have made conversations about mental health more visible and accessible, especially for young people. Yet, they also risk reducing serious conditions to oversimplified trends. Terms like “trauma,” “anxiety,” and “depression” are sometimes used so casually that their clinical meaning is diluted. This kind of overgeneralisation blurs the boundary between ordinary stress and diagnosable illness, leaving genuine conditions misunderstood or dismissed (Saigal, 2020).

Compounding this is the glamorisation of dysfunction across online spaces. In certain digital communities, behaviours such as sleep deprivation, withdrawal, or even self-harm are presented as markers of creativity, style, or depth. Hashtags glorifying anxiety or trauma may create solidarity, but they also risk normalising unhealthy behaviours. For impressionable users, particularly teenagers and young adults, such portrayals can make suffering seem desirable or aspirational. While digital communities can indeed offer support and connection, they also demand stronger media literacy, so that users can distinguish between authentic sharing and the romanticisation of distress (Saigal, 2020).

Thus it is important to reflect upon the frameworks we adopt when we speak of mental health. For decades, the biomedical model has dominated psychiatry and popular opinion, viewing mental illness primarily as a biological or physiological malfunction. This perspective has indeed been valuable as it has advanced research, driven the development of medication, and helped establish mental illness as a legitimate health condition. Yet the biomedical lens falls short. By focusing narrowly on symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments, it often sidelines the wider social, cultural, and environmental forces that deeply influence mental well-being (Deacon, 2013).

As a counterbalance, the social model of disability shifts attention from individual deficits to systemic barriers.

As a counterbalance, the social model of disability shifts attention from individual deficits to systemic barriers. It highlights how stigma, discrimination, exclusion, and lack of accessibility can worsen mental health outcomes. This perspective is particularly vital in India, where structural inequities such as poverty, caste discrimination, gender roles, and urban-rural divides amplify distress. By moving the focus from pathology to social justice, the social model reminds us that mental health at first is a public good and addressing mental health requires not only treatment but also dismantling systemic obstacles (Hogan, 2019; Ringland et al., 2019).

Taking these challenges head on requires more than goodwill. It needs a comprehensive, multi-layered strategy. First, India must dramatically scale up its mental health infrastructure. The Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 has been a landmark in recognising mental health as a right, but implementation has remained uneven (Patra, 2024). Strengthening primary healthcare systems to integrate mental health, training a larger cadre of professionals, and ensuring affordable access are non-negotiable steps.

Second, public awareness campaigns must evolve beyond catchy slogans. To truly dismantle stigma, they need to confront deep-rooted stereotypes, encourage help-seeking, and be tailored to context. Campaigns cannot remain the preserve of urban elites; they must also reach rural communities and historically marginalized groups, with sensitivity to caste, gender, and economic inequalities (Kaur et al., 2023).

Third, as the commodification of mental health grows, regulation becomes essential. Oversight of wellness industries and online platforms is necessary to prevent misinformation, exploitation, and the dilution of serious conditions into lifestyle trends (Saigal, 2020). Alongside regulation, media literacy initiatives can empower people, especially young users, to distinguish between authentic conversations and the romanticisation of distress.

Ultimately, what India needs most is nuance.

Ultimately, what India needs most is nuance. Mental health is not reducible to chemical imbalances, nor is it merely about personal resilience. It is shaped by poverty, gender, culture, family structures, and social institutions. The basis of a truly humane and equal system of care is balance: one that takes into consideration both biomedical and social dimensions of mental health, challenges stigma without reducing complex experiences to clichés, and resists the commercialisation of suffering. 

The trajectory from stigma to overgeneralisation is a reminder that progress brings new dangers. Awareness, while crucial, can backfire if it turns shallow or sensational. As conversations on mental health grow louder in India, the task ahead is to ensure they also grow wiser (Kaur et al., 2023; Saigal, 2020). Only then can the country build a system of care that doesn’t lose people between the extremes of silence and hashtags. We need systems that actually work on the ground, not just campaigns that look good on paper. We need workplaces, schools, and communities that support people before they reach breaking point. And most of all, we need to remind ourselves that mental health is not a fad, not a slogan, not an aesthetic. It’s about real people, real struggles. It must be recognised as a public good before anything else.

Akshita Pandey is an undergraduate student of Psychology at FLAME University, Pune.

Dr. Gayatri Kotbagi is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at FLAME University, Pune.