How Embodied Community and Holistic Faith Can Relieve Gen Z's Mental Health Crisis

We’ve heard it before: Gen Z is the most connected and isolated generation. According to one 2023 study, over 60% of college students met the criteria for mental health problems, anxiety being the most common.   

While several factors – the pandemic, political polarization, and academic pressure – play a role in this crisis, much can be traced to the adoption of smartphones in the early 2010s. In fact, from 2010 to 2019, depression and anxiety rates among young people in the U.S. rose sharply (more than 50% in many studies). 

Nader Sahyouni, professional counselor and Assistant Director for InterVarsity’s Spiritual Foundations Department, weighed in: “Millennials got smartphones later in high school, whereas Gen Z [got them] in junior high. The way that interacted with their psychological development has been extremely significant.” 

As they navigate this difficult landscape, InterVarsity supports Gen Z by inviting them into vibrant, in-person communities and by giving them tools for holistic spirituality. But to do that well, it’s important to understand some of the underlying challenges contributing to Gen Z's struggles with mental health. 

Challenge 1: Addiction 

Teens spend an average of five hours a day on social media. Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation,” believes this is the leading cause of the mental health crisis among young people. TikTok’s short-form videos, for example, deliver constant dopamine hits, keeping users in a trance-like state. The brain adapts to these highs, leaving teens feeling anxious and irritable when not online. They also receive about 237 notifications a day. Evidence suggests this kind of constant distraction erodes capacity for creativity and sustained attention, making learning more difficult. 

InterVarsity campus minister in New York, Justin Guaman, adds that the type of content his students consume seems to add to their anxiety. “Students are more anxious than ever because of the injustices they personally experience and the injustices they are exposed to through social media and/or the news,” he said. 

Challenge 2: Avoidance 

“If you're anxious about something and you avoid it, you might feel a little bit better. But then the anxiety gets worse,” Nader said.  

For young adults, the parts of their brain that read social cues are especially active, making them more aware of how they’re perceived. So, when they feel discomfort in social interactions – even commonplace ones like talking to a professor or ordering pizza – they look for a way out. The methods to find that “out,” are endless, like choosing to text instead of talk. But these methods only reinforce anxiety and make face-to-face conversations harder.   

Avoidance also impacts areas of life essential to happiness, like making meaningful connections with others. In fact, campus minister Rebekah Fogleman in El Paso observed a growing number of students struggling with forming friendships throughout her eleven years on staff. Students anchor their identity in digital spaces, ultimately making them feel less real, less known, and more disconnected.  

Challenge 3: Comparison and Assurance-Seeking  

As social media is used to consciously and unconsciously seek assurance, Gen Z can fall into a trap of constantly checking their accounts for likes and comparing engagement with peers. This activates the amygdala and sends persistent signals to the brain that there is something to be concerned about.   

This pattern is particularly present among girls, who spend more time on Instagram than boys and report higher rates of depression.   

Challenge 4: “Overwhelm,” and Lack of Resilience  

Gen Z has had fewer opportunities for freedom and unstructured play (both vital for healthy development) compared to older generations. As digital life increasingly dominates their lives, many have turned to screens instead of exploring the world around them.  

This shift away from real-world engagement not only stunts growth but also contributes to a rising sense of overwhelm among Gen Z. Nader mentions often hearing students say, “I’m overwhelmed,” or “life is just so overwhelming right now.” This “overwhelm” comes from the ways young people distract themselves when experiencing something uncomfortable. When we’re on our phones and refuse to sit with our emotions, we lose the ability to process those emotions in a healthy way.  

To demonstrate this, Nader discusses a student’s anxiety around finishing a paper and coping by scrolling social media. Scrolling releases little bursts of dopamine in the student’s brain. While dopamine is a pleasure neurotransmitter, it's also significantly involved in the motivation to get pleasure. Too much dopamine causes the student’s brain to become desensitized, and their motivation levels drop. When they come back from the break, they feel demotivated and ashamed about not having made any progress on the paper, and anxiety increases as a result.  

How InterVarsity Addresses Gen Z Mental Health Needs 

Justin says that this generation has greater awareness of mental health, more language for it, and more tools to engage with it. InterVarsity is also increasingly aware of mental health challenges our students face and provide them with discipleship opportunities that are proven to decrease anxiety.    

In-person Community 

Celeste, a University of Utah student, shares, “Growing in my faith has helped me feel my emotions and give my anxiety to God. [He] gave me my community so that he could grow [me].” 

InterVarsity provides embodied community for students, which cannot be replaced by virtual interactions. In-person relationships enable individuals to form social skills like reading body language, interpreting tone, and effectively navigating conversation. Jonathan Carillo, a campus minister in Las Vegas with family members in the mental health field, emphasizes that supportive community is not only a biblical value but is also a principle recognized by psychologists as essential to mental well-being.  

Yet real, in-person community has become increasingly rare for young people, even years after the pandemic. Our campus ministry, however, can help reverse deteriorating social skills by training students to talk to strangers while doing outreach on campus or engaging in deep friendships in small groups. 

One of the consequences of this lack of in-person connection is a tendency for students to bond more over shared media than shared identity. Rebekah noticed her students connecting more over YouTube, Instagram, or streaming than over who they are as people. In response, her ministry started an initiative to “Keep it Real.” Students were encouraged to open up to each other and Jesus, and they discovered freedom in being themselves. “What they [were] using to gain friends isn't who they really are,” she said.  

In San Antonio, Trinity University student leader Vanessa Cordero learned the value of community in her mental health. “The first [small group] I led was about mental health and God's heart towards that. Going through that study made me see that people in the Bible also experience those things. [It's] okay to come to God with honest, raw feelings,” she said.   

Justin also noticed improvements in students’ mental health when they participate in small groups or one-on-one discipleship. “The more honest they are in community, the more hope I've seen them experience,” he said. 

Holistic Faith and Health  

An essential attribute of InterVarsity is a “holistic” gospel and faith in Jesus. While our ministry is not a replacement for professional care (we affirm counseling as both beneficial and necessary for some), we are committed to caring for the whole person. “It’s not wrong to ask Jesus for healing,” Nader said. “But if the only reason I'm following Jesus is to get better, there's a problem. Then it becomes a health and wealth gospel.”  

Students are encouraged to learn what place spirituality has in their mental health and vice versa. Our staff may have students ask themselves: Are there psychological struggles that are making it harder for me to follow Jesus? God can use therapy as a means of spiritual formation by removing the psychological obstacles that stand in the way of what he wants for us.   

Nader trains students on Anxiety Redemption Prayer, which involves three movements: "Please. Thank You. Yes." Expressing gratitude before acceptance helps students prepare their souls to say “yes” to whatever God is doing. He also encourages them to be grateful for how God will use every situation for good, as we see in Romans 8:28. Although this may not fully alleviate anxiety or suffering, thanking God in whatever mental state students find themselves in can make a difference as they learn to release control to God. Instead of praying for God to fix everything, it’s more fruitful to ask for wisdom and strength to walk through anxiety with him.  

Rebekah says listening prayer has been especially beneficial for her students. “Being in the room when [listening prayer] happened, there's a calm and peace that wasn't there before.” 

Jesse Lit, a campus minister in Dallas, says practices like sabbath and retreats of silence away from phones have been popular among his students, emphasizing mental health as a pursuit that includes spiritual, physical, mental, and relational well-being. 

Healing is Possible 

While many students know that disconnecting from social media would be better for their mental health, the pressure of being left out of the online world can lead to a different kind of isolation. This is likely to worsen for Gen Alpha, who will enter college in 2028.    

By inviting students into communities where they can grow holistically, we can help them discover the richness of real connection and the spiritual tools needed to face this crisis. Remind the students in your life that they are not alone and encourage them to pay attention to what God has already placed around them to heal. 

Finally, if any college students in your life would benefit from a holistic, embodied community, help them connect with an InterVarsity chapter on their campus today!