Project Manas - An Insight into Student's Mental Health

Written By Jiana Joshi

Edited By LorenzoRave

Student stress is frequently dismissed as a temporary phase of teenage development. However, empirical research suggests that stress among students is heavily influenced by biological and physiological factors. This made me question whether academic pressure is just a cognitive struggle or carries a biological toll. Moreover, how does socioeconomic privilege affect a student’s capacity to cope with this stress? These questions drove me into starting Project Manas. In collaboration with an NGO in India, I interviewed 11 secondary school students between the ages of 12 and 17 to examine their daily lives through four scientific frameworks: the Allostatic Load Model, the Transactional Model of Stress, the Biopsychosocial Model, and Systemic Environmental Psychology. 

Initially, going into these interviews I expected them to complain about the usual stressors such as tough tests and deadlines, but listening to them open up offered a different perspective. Every student did mention the long school assignments and tight deadlines, but their responses went much deeper. Applying the allostatic load model helped me connect my theoretical knowledge to their responses. I observed how chronic stress is expressed differently according to age, as younger kids described dealing with constant mood swings and sudden agitation. The 10th graders were struggling with persistent headaches, fatigue, and sleep deprivation. Examining their routines through systemic environmental psychology helped explain their daily distractions. Growing up in a noisy environment, sibling disruptions, and constantly being surrounded by gadgets created a continuous baseline of sensory overload, causing headaches and breaking their concentration. 

What stood out to me the most was how age and gender altered this environmental impact. A fourteen-year-old boy described his daily routine of going straight from school to tutoring, working shifts at his family’s shop, and then staying up late to finish his homework. Meanwhile, several girls described going home from school to start with domestic chores. Seeing these structural burdens made me realize that stress isn't just about the amount of homework piled up for students, but it is also deeply tied to the responsibilities that some students have to carry at home. 

When I asked the students about how they coped with all the stress, analyzing their responses through the Transactional Model of Stress, it was heartbreaking to realize that 80% of these students coped through total isolation and lacked the necessary support. The girls I spoke to often internalized their stress through journaling or crying, while the boys diverted to physical avoidance such as sleeping or using music as a source of distraction. Almost every student admitted they felt like no one was truly listening, yet they told me they would gladly open up if they were provided with a safe and confidential space. 

For older students preparing for competitive exams such as NEET and JEE, looking through the Biopsychosocial Model illustrated how stress, apart from biological factors, is also influenced by the systemic societal expectations. The students spoke about the extreme national competition for university seats in India and the heavy family expectations to secure social standing, which often leads to relentless comparison between peers and relatives. 

In the end, conducting field interviews for Project Manas was an insightful experience for me. Understanding adolescent stress felt much more personal as I was talking to students of my own age. Similarly, whether it was measuring the physiological wear of allostatic load, mapping environmental effects, or examining the burdens of socioeconomic privilege, the experience deepened my appreciation for existing support systems for students. Ultimately, it transformed my understanding of mental health, proving that student stress is far from just a temporary phase of growing up.