Dr. Neerja Aggarwal, a PhD-qualified Psychologist and Rehabilitation Psychologist, brings more than 22 years of extensive experience in mental health care, psychological assessment, and behavioural interventions. Over the course of her distinguished career, she has worked across a broad spectrum of mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, personality disorders, substance abuse, eating disorders, and adolescent psychological well-being. As a consultant with UNICEF, she played a pivotal role in developing the Operational Guidelines for Adolescent Health Centers across India, thereby contributing to the strengthening of youth mental health services nationwide. In addition, she has trained healthcare professionals and community workers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and has designed specialized programmes focused on adolescent emotional regulation and resilience. Having previously served as a Clinical Psychologist at Tulasi Health Care and as a consultant with CSBC, she currently leads Emoneeds as its Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, spearheading the organisation’s clinical psychology and mental health initiatives.
In an exclusive conversation with The Interview World, Dr. Neerja Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO of Emoneeds, examines the growing mental health crisis among Indian students and explains the factors driving this alarming trend. She argues that most schools remain inadequately equipped to identify and address conditions such as anxiety and depression. Furthermore, she analyses the profound influence of social media and cyberbullying on students’ emotional well-being. She also outlines the urgent reforms required within the education system to create a robust mental health support framework. At the same time, she highlights the critical role families play in fostering mental health awareness among children and adolescents. Beyond institutional and familial interventions, she advocates for grassroots-level structural reforms to strengthen mental health support systems across communities. Finally, she underscores the importance of privacy and confidentiality in encouraging young people to seek help without fear of stigma or judgment.
The following are the key insights from this thought-provoking and wide-ranging discussion.
Q: What factors are contributing to the rise of mental health issues among Indian students?
A: The growing incidence of mental health challenges among young people stems not from a single cause but from the cumulative impact of multiple pressures. Academic expectations remain a major contributor, as students navigate an intensely competitive environment where success is often narrowly defined by examination results. Consequently, many develop chronic stress, anxiety, and a fear of failure. At the same time, social media amplifies these pressures by exposing adolescents to idealized portrayals of success, appearance, and lifestyle, fostering constant comparison and feelings of inadequacy.
Furthermore, the adolescent brain is still developing critical capacities such as emotional regulation, impulse control, and decision-making, making it difficult for young people to manage complex challenges without adequate support. Equally concerning is the lack of mental health awareness within many families. When emotional distress is dismissed as a temporary phase or a sign of weakness, children often suppress their struggles rather than seek help. Together, these factors create a perfect storm that undermines adolescent mental well-being.
Q: Are schools adequately equipped to support students experiencing anxiety and depression?
A: Most schools across India remain inadequately prepared to address the growing and increasingly complex mental health needs of students. A significant challenge lies in the limited capacity of educators to identify early warning signs of psychological distress. In adolescents, mental health struggles rarely manifest as visible sadness alone; instead, they often emerge through irritability, anger, declining academic performance, social withdrawal, frequent absenteeism, or disruptive behaviour. Consequently, many vulnerable students go unnoticed until their difficulties become severe. Even in schools that employ counsellors, support systems often fall short. Counsellors are frequently too few in number and are burdened with administrative responsibilities that reduce the time available for meaningful student engagement. As a result, access to timely psychological support remains limited.
To address this gap, schools must move beyond treating mental health as a peripheral concern. Instead, they should embed mental health education, early intervention, and emotional well-being into the core framework of the educational system, making them as fundamental as academic learning itself.
Q: How do social media use and cyberbullying affect students’ mental health and well-being?
A: The influence of social media and cyberbullying on adolescent mental health is profound, and its impact continues to intensify with each passing year. Social media platforms frequently expose young people to highly curated portrayals of success, beauty, and achievement, creating a relentless cycle of comparison. Consequently, many teenagers begin to measure their worth against unrealistic standards, leading to feelings of inadequacy, diminished self-esteem, and an unhealthy dependence on online validation.
At the same time, cyberbullying has transformed the nature of peer victimization. Unlike traditional bullying, it extends far beyond school premises and follows children into their homes through smartphones, social media platforms, and digital communication channels. As a result, many adolescents find themselves deprived of any genuine safe space where they can disconnect and recover from emotional distress.
To counter these challenges, parents, educators, and mental health professionals must focus on building digital resilience. The objective should be to help young people develop a strong sense of self-worth that remains independent of social media approval, online popularity, or the pursuit of virtual affirmation.
Q: What urgent reforms are needed in the education system to establish an effective student mental health support framework?
A: India must move beyond merely raising awareness about mental health and focus on building a robust, accessible, and sustainable support infrastructure. To begin with, every school should employ qualified mental health professionals and maintain a realistic counsellor-to-student ratio to ensure timely and meaningful intervention. At the same time, the education system must integrate emotional literacy into the core curriculum. Students should learn coping mechanisms, stress management techniques, emotional regulation, and digital well-being as essential life skills rather than optional topics.
Equally important, policymakers must reconsider the high-stakes, one-shot examination model that places immense psychological pressure on young minds and often equates academic performance with personal worth. Furthermore, schools must equip teachers with the knowledge and skills to recognize signs of emotional distress and respond with empathy and support rather than punishment or dismissal. However, institutional reforms alone will not suffice.
Families must also acknowledge that psychological suffering is as real and consequential as physical illness. Until parents recognize emotional pain with the same seriousness as a fever or injury, even the most advanced mental health services will remain underutilized and unable to achieve their intended impact.
Q: What role does family awareness play in influencing children’s mental health outcomes?
A: Family awareness plays a decisive role in a child’s recovery journey and significantly influences long-term mental health outcomes. While most parents genuinely care about their children’s well-being, many lack the mental health literacy needed to recognize emotional distress and engage in meaningful conversations about feelings, anxiety, or psychological struggles. As a result, a critical gap often emerges between a child’s experience and a parent’s understanding. This disconnect can have serious consequences.
When parents dismiss emotional concerns by insisting that a child is “too young to be stressed” or that their feelings are merely a passing phase, they inadvertently discourage open communication. Consequently, many children choose to suppress their emotions, delaying professional intervention until the problem becomes far more severe. In contrast, adolescents are more likely to seek support and develop emotional resilience when they feel heard, understood, and respected. Therefore, parents must shift from a mindset of correction to one of conversation, and from judgment to validation. By creating a safe, empathetic, and non-judgmental environment, families can become the first and most effective line of support for a child’s mental well-being.
Q: What grassroots-level interventions are needed to better support children experiencing mental health challenges?
A: Strengthening mental health services at the grassroots level requires a deliberate focus on capacity building, professional support, and institutional coordination. First, health centres, including Adolescent-Friendly Health Clinics, must enable counsellors and mental health professionals to prioritize patient care rather than burdening them with excessive administrative responsibilities. When paperwork consumes a disproportionate share of their time, the quality and accessibility of care inevitably suffer. Equally important, the system must establish clear and formal referral pathways between schools and healthcare facilities. Educational institutions should know precisely where and how to refer students experiencing psychological distress, ensuring timely intervention during crises and continuity of care thereafter.
Furthermore, frontline workers and grassroots professionals require ongoing supervision, mentoring, and capacity enhancement to respond effectively to complex mental health challenges. Regular refresher training, conducted on a monthly or periodic basis, should equip them to identify and manage critical issues such as suicide risk, abuse, self-harm, and substance use. Only through sustained professional development and stronger institutional linkages can the mental health ecosystem deliver responsive, accessible, and effective support to vulnerable young people.
Q: Why is privacy critical for teenagers seeking mental health support?
A: Confidentiality serves as the foundation of effective mental health care and acts as the gateway to trust between adolescents and mental health professionals. Without a genuine assurance of privacy, meaningful disclosure becomes unlikely, regardless of the quality of counselling services available. One of the most significant barriers to trust is the absence of adequate privacy safeguards within counselling environments.
When young people fear that conversations can be overheard through thin walls or in poorly designed facilities, they often withhold sensitive information related to anxiety, depression, abuse, self-harm, or other deeply personal concerns. Consequently, the effectiveness of counselling interventions diminishes substantially.
To address this challenge, healthcare facilities and counselling centres must establish rigorous privacy standards. Counselling rooms should be located away from crowded or high-traffic areas and designed to ensure both visual and acoustic confidentiality. Equally important, counsellors must receive specialized training to uphold privacy protocols while sensitively managing parental concerns. They should be equipped to explain that confidential counselling is not a barrier to parental involvement but a clinical necessity that enables adolescents to speak openly, seek help without fear, and engage honestly in the therapeutic process.
