As the conversation has gained momentum, so has the noise. Influencers and self-styled experts liberally dispense \u2018tips\u2019 and pop-psychology jargon on Instagram and YouTube. Parikh wants to cut through that and bring the discussion back to evidence and empathy.<\/p>\n
Much of his focus now is on teenagers and their lives online \u2014 an area of global concern. In the US, researchers like Jonathan Haidt have linked social media use to rising rates of depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Australia has even instituted a social media ban for children under 16. Parikh has been warning about the same damaging patterns in India.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cThere is no substitute for meaningful relationships,\u201d he said. \u201cHow many people are on your social media network does not make a difference. How many meaningful relationships you have is what matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s found a novel way to get the message across to students. His annual Psych-ED quiz, started in 2016, has become a small phenomenon, with 990 schools participating in its eighth edition this year for prizes of Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Psych-Ed\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/psych-ed-sunbeam-school-1024x768.jpg\")
Dr Samir Parikh with the 2025 Psych-ED champions from Sunbeam School, Varanasi. Awarding the trophy is Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO, Fortis Healthcare| Instagram\n<\/p>\n
This August, Sunbeam School in Varanasi won gold on its third try.<\/p>\n
\u201cSamir sir is a really funny person, and Psych-ED is all about having fun,\u201d said Vaibhav Bajaj, a student on the winning team. The team was guided by school counsellor Arpit Tripathi, who said children have shown \u201cgreat interest\u201d in the subject.<\/p>\n
Parikh himself insists he\u2019s still surprised by the scale of the quiz, which began as a simple way to connect with students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first thought of it, I imagined a run-of-the-mill quiz like the ones in my school days,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019d have maybe 15 or 20 schools from Delhi-NCR. We ended up with around 200 schools from 40 or 45 cities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the age of selfies, he added, he doesn\u2019t want to be \u201cnarcissistic\u201d by tom-tomming its success.<\/p>\n
Also Read: Bengaluru is leading India\u2019s mental health revolution. VCs say it\u2019s the next big field<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Psychiatry to Paris and podcasts<\/p>\n Growing up in Delhi, Parikh didn\u2019t begin with a plan to become one of the country\u2019s most visible psychiatrists. When he finished school in 1989, he didn\u2019t even know psychiatry existed as a field. He just knew he wanted to become a doctor and happened to stumble into the field while studying at BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad. He quickly discovered a passion for it.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents were not a hindrance, which is more important. They were supportive of whatever I did. It was a generation which did not know much about psychiatry. But they never questioned my choice.\u201d<\/p>\n He spent the 1990s in Gujarat, completing his MBBS and then an MD in psychiatry, receiving a gold medal for the latter. During his MD, he was mentored by Dr Bharat Panchal, a teacher he still calls his biggest influence.<\/p>\n \u201cI rarely remember my own birthday, but he never forgets to send me books each year,\u201d Parikh said. One of his most abiding lessons from Panchal was that that \u201cif your real self and portrait self [the one displayed to the word] are the same, you will rarely have ethics as a problem\u201d.<\/p>\n He joined Max Healthcare in 2000, heading its Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences for nearly twelve years. In 2012, he moved to Fortis Healthcare as director of the same department. Under his leadership, the Fortis National Mental Health Program has grown into one of the most comprehensive in the country, with a team of 58 that includes psychiatrists, clinical and counselling psychologists, psycho-oncologists, sports psychologists, occupational therapists and art therapists.<\/p>\n In 2024, in what he calls an \u201cimportant\u201d moment, a mental-health team travelled as part of the medical contingent to the Paris Olympics with Indian athletes. Parikh went as Chief Mental Wellness Expert, along with sports psychologist Divya Jain.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are recognising that you can\u2019t have a medical team if you don\u2019t have mental health experts,\u201d he said, crediting the Prime Minister, the Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association for their foresight. \u201cSecond, how do you actually have high-level performance without giving mental conditioning and mental support? In fact, at the village, there was something that was called the Mind Zone, an area which was for the mental-health aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n Through it all has been his personal outreach, including a gamut of TEDx talks and interviews on everything from stress and addiction to cannabis use. In June last year, his YouTube appearance with Ranveer Allahabadia, where he spoke about when to visit a doctor and various mental-health issues, got nearly 9 lakh views and more than 1,000 comments. Allahabadia introduced him as someone who\u2019d been \u201cspeaking about mental health before it was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a much-needed conversation\u2026 Our society is doomed if something is not done,\u201d said one commenter.<\/p>\n For the stubbornly modest Parikh, his efforts are a \u201cspeck of sand in the vast, vast desert that is the neglect of mental health in society.\u201d But many in the field credit him for taking the conversation out of academic silos, while also adding an authoritative voice to the popular discourse.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cPsychology and the mental-health space in India lack a representative, a communicator to take forward the conversation. A lot of information comes in the form of \u2018pop psychology\u2019, which lacks nuance and depth. Dr Parikh has the expertise to start that dialogue,\u201d said Ankita, a third-year psychology student at Gargi College, Delhi, who attended one of his online lectures in her first year.<\/p>\n