Top 5 Most-Read Mental Health Content of 2025

Mental health remained a central focus in 2025, with research, policy developments, and innovative treatments shaping the conversation around access, equity, and outcomes. From early-adolescent studies linking social media use to rising depressive symptoms to investigations into racial and ethnic disparities in telehealth access for patients with schizophrenia, this year’s most-read content highlights the challenges and opportunities in improving mental health care.

In 2025, experts explored how network adequacy standards affect Medicaid enrollees’ ability to obtain timely care, while employers and unions learned about integrating psychedelic-assisted therapies like ketamine into benefits plans to support workforce well-being. At the policy level, debates over the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act underscored the ongoing struggle to ensure insurance coverage for mental health and substance use treatment keeps pace with physical health care.

Here are the top 5 most-read mental health articles and listened-to podcasts of 2025.

5. Increased Social Media Use Linked to Rising Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescents

Increases in social media use among children aged 9 to 10 were followed by significant increases in depressive symptoms over the next year, a longitudinal study from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development project found. The findings suggest that heavier social media use may contribute to declining mental health during early adolescence. Tracking nearly 12,000 participants over 3 years, researchers observed a consistent one-way relationship: more time online predicted worsening mood, but depressive symptoms did not lead to greater social media use. The findings fill a critical gap identified by the 2023 US Surgeon General’s advisory, offering rare early-adolescent data rather than relying on cross-sectional studies or research on older teens. The study also found no evidence that baseline depression drives increased social media use, underscoring that changes in an individual’s habits, especially rising screen time, may signal elevated risk.

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4. Disparities in Telehealth Access Undermine Adoption Among Patients With Schizophrenia

While telemental health care was rapidly adopted by New York State Medicaid mental health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic, significant racial and ethnic disparities emerged in how quickly beneficiaries with schizophrenia accessed these services, a JAMA study found. Although 95% of agencies reached notable telehealth use within weeks, minority groups, particularly Black, Asian, Latinx, and other non-White beneficiaries, experienced slower access to their first virtual mental health visit compared with White patients. These gaps narrowed during periods of severe pandemic strain, suggesting that vulnerable patients may have been prioritized when the system was under pressure. The findings mirror broader inequities in mental health care innovation and technology access, and experts note that telehealth is not always feasible for patients facing housing instability or technological barriers. While the study highlights state-operated agencies as early adopters, its authors urge states to monitor inequities in telehealth diffusion and consider targeted strategies, such as financial incentives, to ensure equitable access.

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3. Unlocking Access: Exploring Mental Health Care Among Medicaid Managed Care Enrollees

In an episode of Managed Care Cast, Allison Ju-Chen Hu, PhD, a postdoctoral associate at Weill Cornell Medicine, discussed her study published in the January 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care^®. The research explores how quantitative network adequacy standards affect mental health care access for adult Medicaid enrollees, including those with existing mental health conditions. Hu explained why these standards matter, how they vary across states, and what the findings reveal about their impact on patients’ ability to obtain timely, appropriate mental health services.

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2. Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity: Accessing Ketamine-Assisted Therapy

In an episode of the Managed Care Cast series Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity podcast, the Center on Health Equity & Access kicked off its 2025 relaunch with a timely focus on strengthening mental health in the workforce. The discussion revisited highlights from the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health’s Mental Health Summit, featuring Jessica Tracy, head of Growth and Partnerships at Enthea. Tracy expanded on her presentation, "Revolutionizing Mental Health with Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy," offering employers and unions insight into how psychedelic-assisted treatments, particularly evidence-based ketamine therapy, can help address growing mental health needs and overcome access barriers. She also explained how Enthea integrates these innovative therapies into existing benefits plans, creating new pathways for organizations to support employee well-being.

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1. Trump Administration Walks Back Mental Health Parity in Insurance Coverage

A new legal and regulatory battle unfolded this year over the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), as the Trump administration moved to pause and potentially roll back updated parity rules finalized under President Biden in 2024. The rules were designed to strengthen enforcement and require insurers to provide mental health and addiction treatment coverage comparable to physical health benefits—clarifying long-standing gaps in compliance with the original 2008 law.

Although the Biden administration argued the updates were needed to address persistent inequities, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act Industry Committee sued, claiming federal overreach and warning of higher costs, even though the new rule aimed to clarify compliance and enforcement of the parity, rather than the parity itself. The Department of Justice agreed to reconsider the rule, halting enforcement while federal agencies reassess their position, a move experts say could weaken protections and disrupt access to essential care.

The former assistant secretary for Employee Benefits Security at the Department of Labor, Lisa M. Gomez, cautioned that an extended nonenforcement period risks reversing progress and leaving patients without needed treatment. The development came amid other Trump administration actions that critics warned could undermine mental health services, including cuts to suicide hotline staffing, National Institutes of Health mental health research grants, and HHS programs that support behavioral health and addiction treatment.

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