Naina’s bright future, filled with dreams and possibilities, ended in a nightmare that is impossible for her family to predict. That vivacious young woman went on to graduate from Northwestern University, with a double major in economics and business entrepreneurship. She had her sights set on running a big corporation someday, getting married, and raising a family. By October 2024, her life had sadly come to an end, leaving her family and friends deeply mourning and struggling with her outcome.
Naina’s issues with her mental health were complicated and multifaceted. So she opened up to family friend Gauri Nafrey, who’d known Naina from birth. Although they were best friends, one particularly important discussion had recently made Naina feel excluded. To do that, Nafrey invited Naina to come spend time with her family in London. With Naina’s mental health deteriorating, their connection began to fray.
In May 2022, Naina shared a gut-wrenching story with three friends over text. She revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by relatives as a young child. Her admission became a catalyst for a severe downward spiral in her life, deepening her sense of loneliness and hopelessness.
As Naina dealt with her unpredictable moods, she started to consider separating herself from her Indian community and family. For all of the six months before her unexpected death, she’d been on a personal and professional path to sever those connections. Through Naina’s eyes, we imagined what it could mean to start anew. She went so far as to contact the owner of one particular house on Highbury Fields, where Green hopes to one day live.
Although she experienced these obstacles, she did not let them stop her from chasing her dreams and passions. Through those internships at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, Naina said she had phenomenal exposure. This was shortly followed by an offer to join McKinsey in New York as a business analyst. Though she was thriving professionally, she started to avoid going to see mental health professionals. This decision ultimately defined the last year of her life.
Her mother, Vandana, felt it on a daily basis and so was conscious of Naina’s plight. She went looking for help, managed to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist for Naina, who had promised to go at first. No matter how hard they tried, Naina remained a step behind. She shot me a message apologizing, briefly describing how she was struggling with intense treatment for PTSD and chronic pain that was preventing her from speaking.
Vandana rightfully emphasized her anger towards the stigma and the ignorance that surrounds the discussion of mental illnesses. Her sentiments echoed across the community. While friends came to terms with their shock, some found it difficult to understand how they missed the cues of Naina’s worsened mental health.
“How is it that anybody who interacted with Naina had not picked up on the fact that she was very unwell?” – Kapoor.
Like Naina, most of her friends were overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness and confusion. One friend described their efforts to console her in this, the most challenging of periods.
“We were doing our best. I don’t think we were doing a bad job, but we were having to therapise for something we were not trained for,” the friend stated.
Naina’s dreams were often initially apparent in her discussions. Her vision for her life was not something she kept to herself, she displayed it often for those around her.
“My goals are to be a CEO, to have three children, to be married,” she once said.
Behind these lofty ambitions simmered an emotional storm that no one could glimpse. As her friends tried to uplift her spirit with messages of love and encouragement, they felt the weight of their inadequacy.
“Just remember how strong and loved you are. You can get through this!! Get rid of all the negative voices by replacing them with a million ‘I love you’s okay??” – one friend advised.
Tragically, not even the most unwavering encouragement was enough to save Naina during her worst days. Prior to her death, her parents had placed about $140,000 in her bank account at her request. This money, instead, was meant to see her cared for in her education or allowed the opportunity to start fresh.
Since then, Vandana has grown into a loud and powerful advocate for mental health awareness. She’s an advocate for misdiagnosed youth. She sees education as central to allowing young people to identify signs of mental illness before it’s too late.
“People have to know what mental illness is. I want to make sure high schools all over the world teach kids to recognise psychosis,” Vandana stated.
As Naina’s story is brought to life, the chilling reality of the invisible war most Americans are fighting every day hits home. Instead, friends and family are left in the wake of each tragedy, wondering what else could have been done to change the outcome. The need for honest conversations around mental health has never been greater.