ROMA – Over 7,000 people turned to us in 2023 Friend Telephone Italy to manage a suicidal thought, their own or that of a loved one. Never so many and increased by 24% compared to 2022. In 2024, a small reversal of the trend can be seen: in the first half of the year, requests for help were 3,500, -6.5% from the first half of 2023. Numbers still very far from pre-pandemic levels, when the volunteer organization managed a thousand calls of this type per year.
We learn more and more to ask for help. “In recent years we have seen how people have increasingly learned to ask for help – says Cristina Rigon, president of Friend Telephone Italycommenting on the data released for a World Suicide Prevention Day September 10 – now it is the institutions that must learn to listen and give a timely and structural response. We will continue to help those who turn to us, but we can only get so far. We are available to participate in a national roundtable, to identify the right interventions and strategies to implement”.
ISTAT also says it: a prevention plan is needed. The need for a prevention plan is also underlined by the data State which, in the last year monitored, 2021, reported an increase in suicides: there were 3,870, compared to 3,748 in 2020. An increase that is found in all age groups except for those aged 50-64 and which is higher among the under 49s. Between the ages of 15 and 34, in particular, the growth in suicides in 2021 was 16%.
The increase in fragility. “The most recent data show an increase in the number of suicides, perhaps also due to the effect of the pandemic that has added to the fragilities already existing in some individuals – underlines Maurizio Pompili, professor of Psychiatry at Sapienza and director of the Complex Operating Unit of Psychiatry at the Sant’Andrea University Hospital in Rome – having the epidemiological data on suicides available is central to the analysis of the phenomenon because it allows us to observe its trend and therefore also to implement preventive measures”.
A growing phenomenon. If the latest Istat data on suicides depict a growing phenomenon, the many people who receive help indicate the path to follow and highlight the importance of prevention. “The creation of contexts dedicated to suicide prevention, which use all the specific and multidisciplinary knowledge on the phenomenon, certainly helps to save lives – continues Pompili – primary prevention is fundamental, that is, it increases awareness about suicide prevention”.
Serious suicidal intentions. “Then – continues the professor – it is necessary to focus on the groups at risk and define ad hoc preventive interventions, such as in the case of young people or the elderly. Finally, tertiary prevention intervenes on those who have made suicide attempts or have serious suicidal ideation. The organization of preventive interventions that go in these three directions could counteract the phenomenon; the use of helplines and listening centers represent essential interventions”.
The dice of Telefono Amico Italia. In recent years, requests for help have arrived at Friend Telephone Italy have increased more and more, for this reason the organization has decided to further expand the national telephone service by increasing the guaranteed listening time by 1 hour: from 1 September 2024 the volunteers will answer the 02.2327.2327 from 9 am to midnight (no longer from 10 am to midnight). The telephone is the tool used by most people who turn to Friend Telephone Italybut there are two other ways to ask for help, which are increasingly used: the chat service WhatsappFriend (324 011 7252) and the email, accessible by filling out an anonymous form on the site. The majority of those who have turned to Telefono Amico Italia for suicidal thoughts, whether their own or that of a loved one, live with family or friends (41% telephone, 43% WhatsApp, 39% email); those who live alone follow, with a higher percentage among those who call (31%) than those who write (14% WhatsApp, 21% email).
The appeal to the institutions. “Prevention is the only way we have to combat the phenomenon of suicides – is the appeal launched by Friend Telephone Italy – in recent years we have seen a growing attention towards mental health. The psychologist bonus is certainly an example. A first step in the right direction, but it is not enough. We need structural interventions, which also reach those who do not know how to ask for help, and more specific ones for suicide prevention”.
Changing the “narrative” of suicide. The goal is to move from a vision in which suicide is a stigma and a taboo, to one in which it is a phenomenon that can and must be prevented. To do this, policies and legislation that consider mental health a priority, that improve access to care and provide support to those who need it, are essential. “Suicide and mental health must become the subject of a public, open, constructive dialogue, involving all the subjects and professionals involved – continues Cristina Rigon – only a structural and multidisciplinary approach, that knows how to take charge with the right tools every phase of mental pain that can lead to suicide, can be effective”.
Events to raise awareness. On the occasion of the World Suicide Prevention Day, Friend Telephone Italy organizes a week full of events to raise awareness on the importance of opening a dialogue on the topic.
Tuesday 10th September: The organization proposes a social talk live on Facebook to address the topic of prevention together. Speakers include: Professor Michela Gatta, Director of the Child Neuropsychiatry Unit at the Hospital-University of Padua; Professor Maurizio Pompili, Director of the Complex Operating Unit of Psychiatry at the Sant’Andrea Hospital-University of Rome; the president of Telefono Amico Italia Cristina Rigon; Beatrice De Luca co-founder of Tutto Annodato. Moderator: journalist Micaela Faggiani, president of Cantiere delle Donne.
Sunday 15th September: Friend Telephone Italy will instead take to the streets, with the new edition of the event Non parlarne è 1 dottrina della scienza, to meet the citizens and help people become aware of their emotions: the first step to take care of themselves and prevent a temporary malaise from turning into something more serious. The volunteers of Friend Telephone Italy will invite passers-by to recognize their dominant emotion and give it a color, in complete freedom and free from preconceptions. In exchange, a colored bracelet with the writing #nonparlarneè1suicidio will be given, to carry the awareness message of Telefono Amico Italia throughout the city.
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– 2024-09-04 20:26:11
