Darabi was born in 1940 in Tehran. Following the end of high school, she entered Medical School of University of Tehran in 1959. In 1960, she was detained for an organizing a student demonstration in favor of the National Front. She married her classmate Manoochehr Keyhani in 1963. After completing her studies, she practiced in the village Bahmanieh, located in northern Iran. Darabi went to the United States to continue her studies, and obtained a pediatrics specialist degree in psychology. She returned to Iran in 1976 and was employed as a professor of child psychiatry at University of Tehran, while she became once again politically active against the Pahlavi dynasty. She also taught at the National University (later known as Shahid Beheshti University). She was dismissed from her position for "non-adherence to hijab" in December 1991. Although a tribunal in May 1993 overturned the decision, the university refused to restore her position.
