(The Guardian) – Studying in London before taking up a high-flying job in New York, Naina Mishra seemed set for a bright future – until she began retreating from friends and family into a paranoid spiral even her mother couldn’t break. What does her story reveal about the dangers of young adult estrangement?

Hendry and Newton say they “signposted” her to mental health services, but Naina kept changing her phone number, and after the second or third time, they lost contact with her. Just as Naina fell into the studio out of nowhere, she seemed to disappear into thin air.

But somebody was trying to track Naina down: Vandana Luthra, the mother Naina had told Hendry and Newton was dead. The story of Naina Mishra’s final year in London is one of family estrangement and mental health crisis. It shows how ill-equipped we are at recognising the signs of mental illness, and how powerless parents can be if their young adult children say they want to be left alone. For months, Vandana had been going to extraordinary lengths to find Naina, desperately clutching at every straw because she believed her daughter’s life was at risk. And she was right. By October 2024, Naina was dead. (Read More)