Advancing Digital Mental Healthcare

by developing, researching, and promoting innovative digital interventions, tailored to the Indian context.

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About the Centre

The ICMR Centre for Advanced Research (CAR) in Digital Interventions for Mental Health Care was inaugurated at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, India on 12th September 2024 by Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research (DHR) and Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Led by Dr. Seema Mehrotra , Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, the Centre serves as a hub for innovation, applied research, and capacity building in digital mental health in India. It seeks to strengthen the evidence base on digital platforms and apps, leveraging indigenous and contextually relevant tools to make mental health resources more accessible, scalable, and user-friendly for diverse populations.

The Centre’s work will complement mainstream clinical services by promoting self-care, peer support, early help-seeking, and scalable digital solutions that bridge the gap between unmet needs and available mental health resources in the country.

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Our Mission

Advancing Digital Mental Health Research

The Centre’s mission is to advance digital mental health research and practice in India by developing, testing, and implementing scalable interventions that:

Leverage
Indigenous Tools

Empower
Communities

Strengthen
Evidence

Build Capacity

Inform Policy and Practice

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Our Vision

We envision a future where digital tools complement traditional services through normalizing help-seeking, and make mental health care more accessible to serve as pathways to mainstream services.

Creating an online repository of mental health apps with filter options to find potential apps for individual needs and develop guidelines for end-users and professionals.
Promoting youth-friendly digital and blended interventions to overcome barriers such as stigma, self-reliance, and limited service availability.
Ensuring inclusion by reaching diverse groups across age, gender, education levels, and languages, with vernacular versions of tools.
Establishing collaborations with institutes and agencies to scale research, training, and interventions nationwide.
App Repository
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Why this Matters

Research has consistently shown that:

Making services available is not enough barriers such as stigma, normalization of distress, and preference for self-reliance often delay help-seeking.

Low-intensity, digital, and preventive interventions can act as gateways to professional care, especially for young people.

Mental health apps have insufficient evidence base and a sizable proportion lack deeper collaboration with Mental Health Professionals during/ in development, creating confusion for end-users — rigorous reviews and guidelines are urgently needed.

The Centre aims to address these gaps by contributing to a reliable, evidence-driven ecosystem of digital mental health tools for India.