Introduction: Integrated child development services (ICDS) scheme has a focus on the physical health of the beneficiaries, though ideally, all the dimensions of health, be it physical, mental, social, emotional, spiritual should be equally addressed. Mental health problems abound, and their timely diagnosis and treatment can drastically cut down the morbidity associated with them. Anganwadi workers (AWWs) can prove to be an asset in this timely diagnosis. However, not much is known about the adequacy of knowledge and level of training of AWWs to recognize the commonly prevalent mental health problems in their wards. Materials and methods: The present study was a crosssectional study conducted from April to June 2014 on 1405 AWWs working in district Amritsar to know about their comprehension of mental health problems. A semi-structured pre-tested performance was used for the purpose. The data so collected were analyzed using SPSS (version 21.0) software. Percentages and chi-squared values were calculated. Results: Majority of the AWWs, i.e, 605 (43.0%) were in the age group of 30 to 39 years, 1124 (80.0%) were educated to matriculation, and above, 723(51.5%) had been serving for 10-20 years. More than half 823 (58.6%) were conversant with mental health problems. Depression was the most commonly cited mental health problem 1342 (95.5%) followed by mental retardation 1293 (92.0%) and antisocial behavior 1185 (84.3%). Conclusion: A strong association between cognition of mental health problems and literacy status of the AWWs (χ² = 137.48, p < 0.05), duration of service (χ² = 28.18, p < 0.05) and participation in in-service training for the up-gradation of their knowledge (χ² = 47.15, p < 0.05) was found.