Suicide is one of the most serious public health problems in the world. “Every death is a tragedy”, assured Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), during the presentation of the report ‘Suicide Worldwide in 2019‘last June. In recent years, suicide has outnumbered other causes of death such as breast cancer or HIV and has put on the table the need to develop the necessary resources to prevent these deaths since a patient arrives at the emergency room.
“Paying attention to suicide is even more important now, after many months immersed in the pandemic and when many of the risk factors for suicide – job loss, economic hardship and social isolation – are still very present ”, added the leader of the WHO. Mental health has fallen to its lowest level this last year in all age groups, according to the data of the last report of Eurofound. In Europe, in 2015, the deaths of more than 56,000 people were attributed to suicide, predominantly in men (43,000 men and 13,000 women). However, behind every adult who has lost his life for this cause there is several who have tried.
Guillermo Martinez
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The pandemic has aggravated this situation and directly affects those who are in vulnerable situations. In recent years, various organizations have insisted on the need to bet on “accessible, adequate and affordable” mental health care. In this context, the Ministry of Health has started together with the autonomous communities a national strategy to improve mental health care for the population.
This plan, to which El Confidencial has had access, is mainly committed to early detection of this type of behavior. Suicide attempts represent a frequent psychiatric emergency. The strategy that Health will foreseeably present next autumn calls for guaranteeing that the report prepared by the Emergency services reaches the primary care doctor, with the due guarantees of confidentiality, to ensure the continuity of the necessary care of the affected person.
The importance of raising awareness about suicide and prioritizing its prevention are two of the lines in which the Ministry of Health is working
The importance of raise awareness about suicide and the need to prioritize its prevention are two of the main lines in which the Ministry of Health is working. The proportion of suicides related to mental illness is between 80% and 90%, so its prevention is essential. At present, death by suicide is one of the great challenges faced by early care systems, especially in adolescence, when various investigations insist on the need to “program community interventions and health prevention ”.
Thus, in addition to sensitizing, raising awareness and improve information on suicides to detect these behaviors early, from Health is committed to providing professionals with tools that enable the identification of possible suicidal thoughts and the assessment of the risk factors associated with them.
Angel Alonso Gimenez Graphics: María Zuil
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Since the pandemic began, 6.4% of Spaniards went to the psychologist or psychiatrist for some problem, especially depressive or anxiety disorders, and 5.8% of the population were prescribed psychotropic drugs, such as anxiolytics, antidepressants and sleep regulators. These data were published last February by the Sociological Research Center (CIS). However, behind the consumption of anxiolytics there is another reality: the increase in problems related to Mental health.
In this context, a Madrid psychologist specializing in gender violence criticizes the lack of specialized psychology services in public hospitals. Madrid, for example, has a team of clinical psychologists specially trained to attend traumatic situations; but in the hospital emergency service, disorders such as an episode of anxiety are usually treated by the psychiatry team, as are suicidal behaviors.
Antonio Villarreal
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“When a person goes to the hospital with suicidal behavior, the first thing that is done is to admit them to the Psychiatry area until basically, in some places, they are urged to say that they are not going to do it again. The moment that happens and after a follow-up, they are sent home with an appointment in Mental Health that can be in a near date or not “, relates a clinical psychologist to this newspaper. In this sense, it considers that the Health measure would be useful if primary care professionals were prepared to deal with this situation. “Family doctors do not have enough training to deal with these situations, but what they do is alleviate medical disorders that the person may have ”, he assured. “Obviously, that care is better than nothing, but it would be better if the patient received care from a specialist,” he adds, while urging “having more psychologists in primary care, which translates into more resources.” “It is not just worth knocking on a person’s door in these types of situations, but rather you have to do it the right way”, He concludes.
In these types of situations, it is necessary to create an atmosphere of trust and a good relationship between the patient and the specialist, before having a suicidal episode. “In recent years, I have lived an incredible journey. I think that each time I went to the consultation I had a different psychiatrist and, consequently, a different diagnosis. In the middle of this process, I asked for specific psychological attention to complement my treatment and the Department of Psychiatry decided not to. Finally, I had to look for a solution to my treatment in a private clinic ”, a user of the system assured El Confidencial.
Maria Alvarez del Vayo Angela Bernardo Carmen Torrecillas placeholder image Olalla Tuñas Eva Belmonte
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“Instead of listening to me, which is what I needed at the time, his solution was prescribe me more pills”, Says another user of the primary care system, who finally also turned to private healthcare to deal with the problem he was suffering from at the time. “The second time I went to my GP for psychological help, he said no and directly prescribed bromazepam,” he said. The training of family members, says another specialist, is essential to be able to refer a person with these types of tendencies to the appropriate services. “When a person tries several times to kill himself, it is not a wake-up call, but what he does is go perfecting the method of death. It is necessary to interrupt the learning process of suicidal behaviors from the closest environment, “he explains.
Social fabric to combat suicide
The plan prepared by Health also advocates promote continuing education for the adequate diagnosis and approach to suicidal behavior and to register the cases of suicide attempts that contribute to the improvement of their vigilance. The fact of doing a follow-up after discharge in the Emergency Department also includes the “implanting a code” in the medical records that respect patient confidentiality, as well as intervening in the most vulnerable groups according to their most specific needs. “The first thing that could be done to avoid this type of behavior is to stop being a taboo, that is, to assume that it is a reality that exists and to put education in suicide prevention”, underlines the psychologist mentioned previously.
The WHO considers that “suicide prevention strategies require a strengthening of surveillance and monitoring of suicides and suicide attempts”. In 1969, this organization put on the table the need to implement various measures to prevent suicides. More than half a century later, in Spain they have begun to work on a national strategy that takes into account primary care. Although it is true that there are already different regional measures, such as the present in Asturias, Andalusia or CataloniaAt the moment there is no national plan to deal with this problem. However, from civil society, different initiatives have emerged in recent years that try to alleviate this phenomenon, such as the Hope Phone (717 00 37 17), until the portfolio plan directed by Darias ceases to be a project and becomes a reality.
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Suicide is one of the most serious public health problems in the world. “Every death is a tragedy”, assured Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), during the presentation of the report ‘Suicide Worldwide in 2019‘last June. In recent years, suicide has outnumbered other causes of death such as breast cancer or HIV and has put on the table the need to develop the necessary resources to prevent these deaths since a patient arrives at the emergency room.
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