Real mental illness is a serious issue.
This author refers to anxiety. Far milder. Left to continue, yes serious mental illness will result.
However, the, relatively, sudden increase in 'reported' anxiety is another matter.
Resilience, physical or mental, is decreasing in our society, simply because our faculties (physical and mental) aren't being developed or maintained.  We don't deal with physical or mental stressors as well as we could.  Recent generations are not taught self-reliance skills.  Everyone is a 'victim' of one sort or another. No grit to get over or adapt to the challenges of life's hard knocks.