By Raqif Makhdoomi

Words like depression, anxiety, stress, and panic attack have become part of everyday conversations in the valley. Teenagers, especially Gen Z, use them so often that they sound like routine vocabulary.

Two decades ago, very few people here even knew what these terms meant. Today they describe the daily struggles of countless young people.

Depression, doctors explain, is a prolonged condition marked by emptiness, lack of interest, and exhaustion that can affect eating, sleeping, and even the will to live.

Anxiety makes the heart race, palms sweat, and thoughts spiral endlessly. Stress creeps into ordinary days, turning small challenges into unbearable weights. Panic attacks strike suddenly, with the terrifying sense that one is about to collapse or die.

These aren’t rare medical notes anymore. They’ve become lived realities in Kashmiri homes today.

What changed so suddenly, and derailed our sense of normalcy?

Materially, life has become easier. Most families have more comforts, better access to education, and improved healthcare compared to the past. Even then, mental illness has risen sharply.

According to the Srinagar-based Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), nearly 11........

© Kashmir Observer