Young Adults
“A meaningful life can be extremely satisfying even in the midst of hardship, whereas a meaningless life is a terrible ordeal no matter how comfortable it is.”
Yuval Noah Harari
It’s far from easy, being in your late teens or 20s.All eyes are on you, it would seem, as you feel like you’re expected to choose a career, form essential relationships and launch an “adult life.” You are leaving the original support of childhood, and your primary task is to gain life experience in order to know who you are and where you want to go.
Yet college students feel burdened with the expectation to choose majors, excel academically and socially, and then to seamlessly emerge into the world of work with confidence and clarity. It’s no wonder young adults feel so much internal confusion around identity and their best path forward.
Social media and the accompanying social comparison, intense competition around college acceptance and then the job market all create an atmosphere that fosters self-critical perfectionism as opposed to self-acceptance and discovery.
“All that is gold does not glitter,
J.R.R. Tolkien
Not all those who wander are lost…”
And none of that accounts for the world you’re coming of age in. Many people now in their twenties spent formative years of school in a pandemic: home with parents again, milestones missed, friendships moved online. They’re starting out as AI reshapes the work they trained for, amid political division and real worry about the planet they’re inheriting. It’s a lot to carry. Our therapists are here to help you find your way, guiding you with evidence-based treatments toward the adventure that is your life.
Twenty-Somethings is a pretty broad label. A newly-minted post-teen might find little in common with their twenty-something counterpart who happens to be pushing 30. Luckily, we have therapists that specialize in working with people like you no matter what your age. Visit our Therapists page to meet each of them, or our Types of Therapy page to learn more about the various types of therapy we integrate into our work with clients.
In a national study of US college students, the share screening at risk for disordered eating nearly doubled in eight years, from 15% to 28%.
Daly & Costigan, Psychiatry Research, 2022Among women around age 22, more than half had dieted in the past year, and more than half had skipped meals or used other unhealthy ways to control their weight.
Larson et al., Eating Behaviors, 2021 (Minneapolis–St. Paul sample)Disordered eating often carries on from the teens into the twenties rather than being outgrown.
Neumark-Sztainer et al., J Am Diet Assoc, 2011 (10-year study)Only about 1 in 5 college students who screened positive for an eating disorder had received any mental health care that year.
Eisenberg et al., J Am Coll Health, 2011 (one campus)Among all US adults who have had binge-eating disorder, about half have never sought help for it.
Coffino et al., Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2019About 4 in 10 young adults around age 22 said they had been teased about their weight.
Hooper et al., Int J Eating Disorders, 2021Body dissatisfaction tends to grow, not fade, between high school and young adulthood, for both men and women.
Bucchianeri et al., Body Image, 2013More than half of young men had used protein powders or shakes to build muscle by their early twenties.
Nagata et al., Preventive Medicine Reports, 2022Body image isn’t only a women’s issue: among US adults, about 1 in 3 men rate their own appearance poorly.
Frederick et al., Body Image, 2022In a 2023 Pew Research Center survey, 57% of 18–24-year-olds lived in a parent’s home.
Pew Research Center, 2024 (college housing counts as home)In the same Pew survey, fewer than half of 18–34-year-olds (45%) said they were completely financially independent from their parents.
Pew Research Center, 2024About 1 in 4 US adults have been estranged from their father at some point, most often starting around age 23, and most later reconciled.
Reczek et al., J Marriage and Family, 2023About 1 in 4 adults aged 25–34 report four or more hard childhood experiences, the highest of any age group.
Swedo et al., CDC MMWR, 2023About 1 in 3 men aged 18–24 reported no sex in the past year, up from about 1 in 5 in the early 2000s.
Ueda et al., JAMA Network Open, 2020Only 29% of 25–29-year-olds were married in 2023, down from 50% in 1993.
Pew Research Center analysis of government data, 2024In a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, more than half of adults under 30 (53%) had used a dating site or app.
Pew Research Center, 2023Anxiety among 18–25-year-olds nearly doubled in a decade, from 8% to 15%, rising faster than in any older group.
Goodwin et al., J Psychiatric Research, 2020About 1 in 8 people aged 18–25 had a major depressive episode in a year, up from about 1 in 12 a decade earlier.
Twenge et al., J Abnormal Psychology, 2019University students offered an 8-week mindfulness course were far less likely to reach clinical-level distress at exam time (37% vs 57%).
Galante et al., Lancet Public Health, 2018 (UK students)In a US clinical trial of adults, an 8-week mindfulness course worked as well as a first-line anxiety medication.
Hoge et al., JAMA Psychiatry, 2023In 2024 Gallup polling, more than 1 in 5 Gen Z adults identified as LGBTQ+.
Gallup, 2025A national study following young Americans found that sexual orientation often keeps shifting from the early 20s into the late 20s.
Kaestle, Journal of Sex Research, 2019Among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults aged 18–25, people realised their identity around age 14, on average, and first told a family member around 17.
Bishop et al., Developmental Psychology, 2020About 1 in 11 US adults changed how they described their sexual identity over five years, most often young adults.
Mittleman, Demography, 2023Among women who have been raped, nearly 4 in 5 were first assaulted before age 25.
Breiding et al., CDC MMWR, 2014In a large random sample of undergraduates, 22% reported a sexual assault since starting college.
Mellins et al., PLoS One, 2017 (one campus)About 7 in 10 US adults aged 18–24 report at least one adverse childhood experience.
Swedo et al., CDC MMWR, 2023Two in three students starting college have already lived through at least one traumatic event.
Read et al., Psychological Trauma, 2011 (two universities)In a UK study, only about 1 in 5 young people with PTSD had received help from a mental health professional.
Lewis et al., Lancet Psychiatry, 2019In 2023–24 Gallup polling, 1 in 4 US men aged 15–34 felt lonely “a lot of the day,” more than young men in any other wealthy country.
Gallup, 2025Americans aged 15–24 spent about an hour less a day with friends in 2019 than in 2003.
Kannan & Veazie, SSM Population Health, 2023Loneliness is highest in young adulthood and eases with age.
Bruce et al., Am J Health Promotion, 2019 (20,096 US adults)In a national study of more than 100,000 college students aged 18–29, about 4 in 10 said religion was important or very important to them.
Oh et al., PLOS Mental Health, 2025In Pew’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study, 43% of 18–24-year-olds had no religious affiliation.
Pew Research Center, 2025In a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, 55% of adults under 30 who were raised in a religion identify with it today.
Pew Research Center, 2025In a national study of US college seniors, about 1 in 5 Catholic and evangelical students felt pressured to limit expressing their religious beliefs.
Rockenbach, Mayhew et al., IDEALS report, 2020 (122 colleges)In order to know who we are, we first have to have permission not to know.
For young adults who hold themselves to high standards and still feel they’re falling short, including those only now making sense of ADHD.
For young adults tired of performing wellness for everyone else and ready to actually find it. Bilingual in English and Spanish.
For young adults figuring out who they are, including identity, sexuality, and living in a body that doesn’t always cooperate, such as with chronic illness or pain.
For young adults grieving a loss, recent or long past. Adeline leads our Grief Processing Group for young adults in Cambridge.
For young adults who are sensitive, perceptive, and trying to find their footing in an intense and demanding world.
A small number of our clinicians see adolescent clients, with particular strength in the 15–18 range. Dr. Brittany Sterling works extensively with teens navigating anxiety, identity, ADHD, and the relational complexity of that moment. Availability is limited — reach out today.
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Toward the adventure that is your life.We are currently accepting new clients. Reach out and a real person responds within one business day.
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