World Mental Health Day · 10 October 2026

The Amaha Mental Health Report 2026

Understanding the Journey to Care in India

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At a glance

What 13,825 clients reveal about the state of mental health care in India.

The patterns that emerge when people finally seek professional help.

94.9%

came with two or more concerns at once, and on average people named five

53.0%

had lived with their concerns for more than a year before reaching us

15.4%

turned to alcohol or other substances, in place of professional support

>50%

reported some thoughts of self-harm before reaching care

1 in 5

people who began with psychiatry added therapy at some point

Why this report

What does it really mean to take care of someone?

The Amaha Mental Health Report 2026 follows that journey across India: how people recognise a need for mental healthcare, who they turn to first, what shapes their decisions, and how they eventually find their way into care.

How to read this report

Between October 2025 and September 2026, 13,825 people from across India answered a set of questions, before starting their care with Amaha, about how they experienced distress, how it impacted their functioning, what they tried before seeking care and what finally nudged them to speak to a professional.

At a time when mental health is increasingly part of public conversation, lived experience offers something that statistics and clinical definitions cannot: an understanding of what distress actually looks and feels like in people's lives, and what it takes for them to seek help.

These accounts help us look beyond conditions and symptoms to the everyday realities of living with mental health difficulties. Read together, they trace how all of us in India recognise a need for mental healthcare and find our way to it.

A caveat: These responses come from people embarking on a care journey with Amaha. They therefore reflect the experiences of those who found their way to professional help. And so while not representing the experiences of everyone living with mental health difficulties in India, they offer an important perspective on the journey to accessing care.

“Khayaal rakho.”

Most mental illness statistics for India still draw on the National Mental Health Survey of 2015-16, which found that 10.6% of adults were living with a mental disorder. Government estimates put the treatment gap at 70% to 92%. This 2026 report looks inside that gap: what happens between the first signs of distress and the first session.

National Mental Health Survey →

The Amaha Mental Health Report 2026 follows that journey across India: how people recognise a need for mental healthcare, who they turn to first, what shapes their decisions, and how they eventually find their way into care.

At each stage, it returns to the question at the heart of Khayaal: what does it really mean to take care of someone, ourselves included?

Key findings

Five things the data shows about mental health in India

  1. More than half (53.0%) had lived with their concerns for over a year before their first session with us.

    Of all the patterns in this report, the time people spend living with their concerns before reaching care may be the most significant. Only about one in ten (11.3%) came to us within a month of having any mental health concerns.

    53.0%waited more than a year

  2. Coping doesn't always mean feeling better.

    While 43.1% of respondents reported adaptive coping strategies, such as exercise or journalling, 82.7% reported coping by avoiding or putting off difficult feelings and situations, for instance, through excessive screen time, oversleeping or overworking.

    82.7%reported avoidant coping

  3. There is a direct correlation between self-harm thoughts and individuals who had to wait longer for care.

    There is more than a 50% increase in self-harm thoughts between those who reached out within days of noticing their concerns (22.3%) and those who waited for longer than a year (36.6%).

    36.6%of those who waited more than a year, vs 22.3% who reached out within days

  4. Friends, more than family, appear to be a key source of support for people navigating mental health difficulties.

    When people come to Amaha, we ask who they would want us to contact in an emergency. Fathers were named by just 4.6% of respondents.

    4.6%named their father as an emergency contact

  5. “I’m just stressed”

    In India, “stress” is a word that is relatively easy to use. Depression can be harder to talk about.

    1 in 3people who described themselves as stressed were diagnosed with depression

What distress actually looks like

It rarely arrives as a single thread.

Distress seldom announces itself in the language of mental health. More often, it shows up as a change in everyday experiences: feeling anxious or stressed, struggling with low mood, having trouble sleeping or finding it difficult to concentrate. And it rarely shows up alone.

5Concerns, on average

Almost everyone (94.9%) arrived with two or more. In the report, nearly every pair of concerns we looked at co-occurred in at least six out of ten people. Mental health difficulties rarely sit in isolation, and the shape they take, in combination, often matters as much as what each one is on its own.

See the full co-occurrence map in the report →

Inside the report

From the first signs that something has changed to finding care that fits within a life

  1. Who is seeking help and who still isn't

    Who is finding their way to mental healthcare today, and who may still be missing from the picture.

  2. What India is struggling with

    Distress seldom announces itself in the language of mental health.

  3. How long do people wait

    More than half (53.0%) had lived with their concerns for over a year before their first session with us.

  4. What people tried before getting to care

    How much of the journey happens before any professional is involved.

  5. How are we coping in the meantime

    Coping doesn't always mean feeling better.

  6. Who carries the heaviest weight, and for how long

    More than half of the people who came to Amaha for care (56.2%) reported having already had some thoughts of self-harm.

  7. When things are at their hardest, who do people turn to?

    Friends, more than family, appear to be a key source of support.

  8. What people come with, and what it may reveal

    People often describe what they’re going through in the words that feel safest to use.

What this journey asks of us

Care doesn't begin in a consulting room.

For many, the journey into mental healthcare begins with something ordinary. Difficulty sleeping. A mind that will not settle. A change in how someone relates to others, or gets through the day. By the time these experiences reach a professional, they have often been shaping a life for months, sometimes years.

Each of these moments (the first noticing, the stretches of coping, the hesitant conversations, the eventual decision to reach out) is a point at which someone else's attention and care can make a difference. A friend who notices something has changed. A teacher, colleague or family doctor who recognises when distress may be more than a passing difficulty. A mental healthcare system that makes the right support easier to find, and easier to sustain.

Care, as this report sees it, rests on more than one professional, or one person. It is an ecosystem, with the person at its centre: friends and family, workplaces and classrooms, therapists and psychiatrists, clinics and hospitals, all working together to meet someone where they are. No two journeys are the same. But all of them begin with how we respond to one another, and continue in the support we make possible.

Methodology

Respondents13,825+

people from across the country

PeriodOctober 2025 to September 2026
CapturedAt the moment of seeking care

before any clinical assessment

Diagnosis sub-sample1,565

people who described their concerns and later received a clinical diagnosis

These figures describe only people who did eventually reach care. For many others, the wait may not yet have ended.

This World Mental Health Day

Help us make the first step to care easier for 200Mn Indians.

Read it, and pass it on: to anyone finding their way to care, standing beside someone who is, or meeting people at the first signs.

Download the full report

Share Options

Share this report with someone who might need.

Media and research queries

For interviews with our clinicians, data requests or permission to reproduce charts.

[email protected]

Looking for support for yourself?

Talk to a therapist or psychiatrist at Amaha, online or at one of our centres.

Find an expert

If you, or someone close to you, are having thoughts of self-harm, please reach out for support. Tele-MANAS, the Government of India's free mental health helpline, is available 24 hours a day on 14416 or 1-800-891-4416. In an emergency, call 112. Amaha is not a crisis service.

Report © Mindcrescent Wellness Ventures Pvt. Ltd. Free to cite with attribution.