Teen Mental Health Is a Spiritual Crisis

It’s never been easier to connect online—and never harder to feel truly seen. According to the CDC, 57% of teen girls report feeling “persistently sad or hopeless,” and nearly one in three has seriously considered suicide. That should shake us. But instead of asking why, our culture keeps blaming smartphones, social media, or school stress.

The truth? Teen mental health is not just an emotional or cultural problem. It’s a spiritual crisis. And until we start treating it like one, we’re going to keep losing this generation to confusion, despair, and lies.

Culture Can’t Cure the Crisis

The dominant narrative says teens are struggling because of Instagram, bullying, or peer pressure. While those things certainly amplify the pain, they are not the root of it. The deeper issue is identity.

Teens today are told they can be anything, feel anything, and change anything about themselves—but they are not told who they are. They’re not grounded in any unshakable truth. They’re not given purpose beyond performance. Instead, they are bombarded with a thousand versions of “you do you”—only to discover that “you” is a terrifying place to start when you’re lost.

We’ve raised a generation to believe that truth is internal, fluid, and self-created. So what happens when they look inside and all they find is anxiety, depression, and emptiness?

They spiral.

Teen Mental Health Is About More Than Feelings

This crisis isn’t just about chemical imbalances or external pressures—it’s about spiritual disconnection. We have a generation that’s grown up in a post-Christian world, where sin isn’t real, God is optional, and therapy is the new religion.

That’s not to dismiss the value of counseling or medicine. But the modern obsession with “mental health awareness” has become a smokescreen for something far deeper: we are watching the soul-starvation of an entire generation.

You cannot separate the emotional and mental health of teens from the spiritual realities they’re living in. A child who doesn’t know their Creator will struggle to understand their worth. A teen who is never told that sin leads to death will never understand why they feel so broken inside. A young person who’s constantly affirmed in lies will only spiral further from truth—and from peace.

The mental health crisis of America’s teenage girls, as Allie Beth Stuckey explains in her WORLD article, is not just a mental health issue—it’s a cultural rejection of God’s truth, particularly affecting young women who are being led astray by affirming yet hollow messages.

Where Is the Church?

I say this with love, but also with urgency: the Church is asleep.

We’ve watered down the gospel to make it more palatable. We’ve traded depth for entertainment. We’ve turned youth groups into hangout zones instead of discipleship hubs. And we wonder why our kids are walking away from the faith before they leave high school.

Too many parents have outsourced spiritual formation to churches that are too afraid to say the hard things. Meanwhile, TikTok influencers and secular therapists have become the loudest voices in their children’s lives.

It’s not enough to tell kids, “God loves you.” They need to know why that matters. They need to know that they are sinners in need of grace, and that Jesus didn’t come to boost their self-esteem—He came to rescue their souls.

This problem is compounded by a rising tide of false teaching. Progressive churches now tell teens that obedience is optional, sin is subjective, and love means affirmation. But as I wrote in The Real Danger of Progressive Christianity, this distortion of the gospel is more dangerous than open rejection—because it deceives while claiming to save.

It’s Not Just Girls—But They’re Hurting the Most

While teen mental health is declining across the board, the data shows that teen girls are experiencing the worst of it. Social media comparison, body image distortion, and sexual confusion are taking a brutal toll.

At the same time, boys are increasingly angry, addicted, and disconnected—lacking purpose, discipline, and strong male role models.

Both are symptoms of the same root problem: a culture that has rejected God and left its children to define truth on their own.

What Teens Really Need

They don’t need another app.
They don’t need more dopamine tricks.
They don’t even need better self-care.

They need truth. They need boundaries. They need to know they were created by a God who loves them, who made them with intention, and who calls them to something higher than self-expression: surrender.

Teens need to know:

• They are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27)
• Their feelings are real, but not always true (Jeremiah 17:9)
• Jesus can handle their shame, their doubt, and their fear (Matthew 11:28-30)
• The gospel offers freedom, identity, and hope no psychologist can replicate (John 8:36)

What Parents and Pastors Must Do

You don’t need to have all the answers. But you do need to be present, firm, and honest. Here’s where we can start:

• Read the Bible as a family—let your kids see that truth isn’t just talked about, it’s lived.
• Set boundaries around phones, social media, and friend groups—not out of fear, but out of love.
• Have hard conversations—about sin, sex, doubt, identity, and the lies culture sells.
• Model joy in Christ—not legalism, not fear, but a vibrant, living relationship with Jesus.

We don’t need more affirmations. We need transformation. And that only comes through the truth of the gospel.

My Heart in All This

I care about this not because I’m a parent, but because I’ve lived it. I know what it feels like to be empty on the inside. I know what it’s like to chase identity in all the wrong places—and end up broken.

But I also know what happens when Jesus shows up. He doesn’t coddle our confusion—He speaks into it. He doesn’t celebrate our chaos—He delivers us from it.

And that’s the message we owe this generation.

Don’t Wait

Teen mental health is not a trend. It’s a crisis. But it’s also an opportunity.

If we, as Christians, will speak boldly, love fiercely, and refuse to compromise on truth, then maybe—just maybe—we can be the generation that leads these hurting teens back to the only One who can truly heal them.

Because there’s no filter, therapist, or lifestyle trend that can replace the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Arch Kennedy
Bold, Unfiltered, and Unafraid