The gap between need and resources is urgent in emerging adulthood-This is an opportunity: Commentary on Kazdin (2024).

Abstract

Kazdin's (2024) article details the urgent need for adjuvant treatment approaches focused on how individuals live in daily life. This is an essential pathway to reduce suffering given the global prevalence of psychological distress. We strongly agree and add that a targeted focus on the period of emerging adulthood is of vital importance. Evidence is consistent and compelling that need is high in this stressful developmental period, with the first onset of most psychiatric disorders and limited access to traditional mental health services. Moreover, evidence suggests that this is a life stage where "habits" relating to key lifestyle factors, including physical activity, nutrition, and social activities, have not yet coalesced, hence the opportunity for change may be greatest. These are habits that, as Kazdin (2024) writes, are robustly predictive of lifelong physical and mental health. To leverage this behavioral plasticity, we recommend enlisting the aid of smartphone technology that many emerging adults already use in their everyday lives. This will facilitate earlier intervention, potentially translating into decades of reduced suffering for many individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).