The term ‘adolescence’ comes from the Latin verb ‘adolescere’, which means “to go into adulthood”. The adolescence (age of 12 to 19 years) is a period of rapid physical, cognitive, sexual, social and emotional changes. India has the largest national population of adolescents (about 20% of total population), followed by China, United States, Indonesia and Pakistan. The concept of adolescence, as it is commonly understood, as a period of ‘storm and stress’ was initiated by G. Stanley Hall. Sigmund Freud believed that adolescence is fraught with an internal struggle between id and superego resulting in tremendous stress and turmoil. Erik Erickson characterised the normative ask of adolescence as identity crisis versus role confusion. Drawing a parallel between an adolescent and trapeze artist, he conceptualized the young person as being in vigorous motion between two landings - one representing childhood and the other adulthood, ‘who must let go his safe hold on childhood and reach out for a firm grasp on adulthood’.