May we offer this generation more than antidepressants or a vague spirituality that will be a mere Band-Aid to their wounds. May we instead point them to the Great Physician who brings healing now—and forever.

As I left the exam room in my family practice clinic, I realized the patient I had just seen was the third young woman that afternoon expressing moderate to severe depression symptoms. Each voiced the same aching questions: “Do I have a purpose in life?” and even “Is this life worth living?”

National estimates of major depressive episodes in adolescents have skyrocketed over the last decade, jumping from 8 percent in 2009 to 16 percent in 2019 and reaching as high as 23 percent in female cohorts. A report from 2021 showed that approximately one in four adolescent females had seriously considered suicide at some point during their youth. Alarmingly, many of these symptoms persist into young adulthood. Generation Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2024) is now considered the most depressed generation on record.

So we must ask, Why are so many adolescents and young adults today struggling with depression? And, more importantly, what can we do to help?

Numerous factors contribute to rising adolescent depression rates—social media, increased exposure to bullying, childhood adversity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and so on. Yet one significant factor has received surprisingly little attention in academic and clinical circles: cultural decline in religious faith.

Faith and Mental Health

In her book The Awakened Brain, psychologist Lisa Miller writes, “Contemporary psychotherapy tended to characterize spirituality and religion as a crutch or defense, a set of comforting beliefs to lean on in hard times.” But what if we’ve misunderstood the role of faith in managing depression?

Miller wonders whether the cultural decline in spirituality over the last several generations may be more than a passive trend—it could be a root contributor to the mental health crisis. In that case, a resurgence of spirituality and faith could help protect adolescents and young adults against depression.

Emerging research supports this idea. While only half of adolescents treated with conventional methods (such as therapy and medication) experience a remission of their depressive symptoms within a year, spirituality may offer additional protection—especially against recurrent symptoms.

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