Mumbai: On World Mental Health Day on October 10, mental health advocate and entrepreneur Ira Khan, also known as Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s daughter, shared a video talking about the issue.
In her video, Ira was seen elaborating on the topic of mental health and what causes it! “But why? Why do mental illnesses occur? They actually occur for the same reasons as physical illnesses, in the sense that different illnesses, mental or physical, have different causes.”
He further elaborated, “When it comes to mental illnesses you don’t usually get a straight forward simple answer because they have many causes, many factors come together and many of them are not visible. What this means is that we cannot predict mental illness.”
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Khan further said, “You can technically go back and try to analyze every single part and every factor of your life and try to figure out why it happened if you had a computer-like brain, but we don’t and it’s unhelpful.” He also threw light on the solution. “What is helpful is to treat the mental illness, move forward, and get better.
To that end it is important to understand that mental illnesses are caused by three different types of factors,” Ira said. “The first is the biological factor, the structure of your brain, your genetics, your hormones and your chemicals. The second group of factors are psychological factors, any trauma or abuse, conditioning, habits, belief systems. The third type of factor is social factors, unemployment, climate change, migration, war, poverty.” He further said, ”These would be your social or environmental factors. Why is this important? Because if you understand it and if you are able to influence and change these factors, they become part of your treatment plan. “That’s how you get better, by controlling the things that you can, working on these biopsychosocial factors and getting better.”
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“Mental illness can be scary because we’ve only recently started to discover it and like I said a lot of these factors aren’t necessarily visible to us but mental illness is painful, scary but not shameful and there is treatment,” Ira said at the end of the video. “Why do mental illnesses exist? We have the answer. Even if it’s a little long and you may not like it,” Ira captioned the detailed video. She further explained, “Mental illnesses are not caused by a single event or a single mistake. They occur when biological, psychological and social factors come together – genetics, stress, environment, life experiences and more. They cannot be predicted. They are not a reflection of your worth. And they are certainly not something to be ashamed of.”
She further wrote, “Understanding why can help… but what’s even more powerful is knowing what to focus on now. Because that’s where healing, growth, and recovery begin. Mental illnesses are scary and painful, but they don’t have to be shameful. And most importantly — help and treatment are available.” Talking about Ira Khan, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s daughter herself opened up about her struggle to deal with mental health concerns.
The entrepreneur is proud of his foundation which works towards the mental well-being of people in need. In her podcast series, the young girl talks about mental health and spreads awareness through the same platform. The first episode of his podcast “The Curious Case of…” premiered on multiple online platforms on August 17, 2025.
As Ira explained, the podcast is designed to spread awareness and invite audiences to understand the complexities of mental health. Unlike other stars coming from Bollywood families, Ira Khan never showed any interest in getting into the entertainment business like his father.
She is bringing change in the society in her own way and is becoming successful on the basis of her ability.