Suicide is not talked about. It is a taboo subject often buried under a cloak of guilt and shame that makes life more difficult than it already is.. And a scourge of very serious magnitudes if we open the focus, It is the first cause of unnatural death in Spain in the age group between 15 and the 29 years (especially in men), since in 2008 will surpass traffic accidents, that are now left far behind. The journalist María de Quesada tried to commit suicide when she was fifteen years old and has had to overcome the age of forty to start talking about her experience and transform it into something positive and useful for society., an association dedicated to suicide prevention called The Yellow Girl Who One Day Dreamed. Literal. In September, month dedicated to suicide prevention, published a book with the same name that collects her own suicidal story and that of many other girls (and children) yellow that, brave, They have decided to take a step forward and tell what led them to an extreme situation., how they felt and how they got over it. We have spoken with her about mental health, suicide and how to prevent it.
Why is it important to talk about suicide? Why is it still such a stigma in our society??
It is important to talk about suicide because the death numbers are not going down and they never have been.. In 2019, 3.671 People took their lives in Spain and we are doing nothing to prevent it. We should be talking about suicide every day (and in prime time) to find solutions and prevent it. Why, and here's the good news: suicide can be prevented.
It is a taboo because socially, and for too long, has been considered as an individual problem (like gender violence in its day, For example) and has not been treated as the public health problem that it is. Since the year 2000 The World Health Organization already recommends that all countries in the world implement measures to prevent suicide and begin to create comprehensive plans in public administration that help reduce the numbers.. Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden or Great Britain have taken great steps. In Spain we have a political class spectacle. Let's remember that each number can be your mother, my son, your friend or myself. Besides, Historically, suicide has been highly stigmatized because it is considered almost a crime.; in fact, In Spain, until the year 1983 People who committed suicide were not buried in cemeteries and it was considered a sinful act. With this panorama, let's see who tells someone that they have suicidal thoughts.. Y, however, It's what can save your life.
It is a thorny issue because, besides being taboo, Treating it publicly without adequate sensitivity and knowledge can encourage a contagion effect.. How to avoid this effect? What do the media do wrong??
The media must learn to communicate suicide to prevent it (Papageno effect) and not to cause more deaths (Werther effect), and we have to change this paradigm using the recommendations given by the WHO since the year 2000, and with the report Suicide prevention: a global imperative (2014). Already in the pandemic, the Ministry of Health published a manual with these recommendations, y the EFE agency and even the Valencian Government, who was a pioneer with the suicide prevention plan In the year 2016. But these recommendations to the media cannot be left hanging on the web for decoration., They are there to be used and it is our responsibility as speakers and agents of social change to also become agents of suicide prevention.. From the La Niña Amarilla association that we have created, we have already begun to give talks at the university for students of Journalism and Communication because we know that training is essential, and we also want to go to institutes and schools to open this necessary space.
The yellow girl collects suicidal stories with very different triggers and contexts, you yourself open the can telling your own experience, when at fifteen years old you wanted to disappear. How healing has it been to share your story??
It has been a very conscious decision and, although it has not been easy nor is it easy for days, my purpose is above my story, which is just one more. I want to start with myself to be able to participate in this social paradigm shift., because silence has been of no use until today. So, let's talk. Even if other people are not ready to talk about their suicidal behavior, Those of us who are, we can do it and welcome them, and even more, we can help reduce the taboo, to make the problem visible and educate the population, making them more aware so that everyone can be part of the solution.
In the talk online What did you do with mountaineer Edurne Pasabán last September? She commented that people who try to commit suicide don't want to die., what they want is to take away the pain. Explain this idea to us and, by the way, Tell us how you got Edurne to sign up for the project and sign the book's prologue.
I understand perfectly and agree with what Edurne meant.. When you are at the point of thinking about disappearing from the world, the only thing you want is not to live with that suffering.; You don't want to go to bed every night with the idea of not getting up or opening your eyes., with the idea that life weighs you down to that point. Maybe it's hard to put yourself in our shoes, And maybe if we talk more and share how we feel, fewer people would reach the point of thinking about suicide. It is important to create safe communication spaces in which anyone can express what they feel without judgment., only with love.
I have followed Edurne's career since On the edge of the impossible and I have always admired her as an athlete and as a woman; also today, through his lectures, offers useful tools that she has learned in her life in the mountains and that are applicable to anyone's life, at street level. Coincidentally, I heard a talk of his on YouTube when I was finishing the book and then I looked for it on social media.. I wrote to him, He answered me a few days later, We exchanged some emails in which he was very kind and generously agreed to write the prologue of the book telling his story of suicidal behavior and how he overcame those difficult stages.. She is the example that shows that suicidal thoughts can come to anyone., regardless of who it is, of your success, of his career, or your position. That is why we must learn and be more aware of the problem that is suicide because tomorrow it can also be our family member.. He poured.
Despite the topic it deals with, It's not a particularly hard book to read., maybe because the end of each chapter is never dramatic. The protagonists are the ones who tell their own story and that means they are still alive, and with enough strength and confidence to tell it. From what perspective have you treated the topic?? What was your intention?
My contribution is to write those stories from love, because I think it is the only place from which we can treat suicide. They are very hard stories in which there is always a light for the person who lives it.. Maybe it's a teacher, a familiar, a friend, a daughter or a passion, like music. But in all stories there is something to live for. What I want is that people who are in a delicate situation and read it know that it is possible to get out, because we have achieved it and they can too if they ask for help in time.
Introduce us to some of your yellow girls. What circumstances led them to want to disappear and how did they overcome it??
I am especially moved by the story of Soul and the wear of sighs. Alma is a fifteen-year-old teenager when her father dies by suicide., and before that she has already experienced abuse, abandonment and abuse. Despite all the stones that are in your way, and at his young age, He is capable of wanting to hold on to life and he does so from his own inner light., which leads him to know that he wants to live life with soul, feeling all your emotions, even the most difficult. Another story that touches my heart is that of Epi, I think the book uncovers other huge taboos in our society such as physical and psychological abuse in childhood., sexual abuse, gender violence, bullying or eating disorders. As a society we must move forward to prevent our childhood from experiencing such harsh experiences that can affect us for the rest of our lives, being a huge risk factor for suicide.. All stories are brave and admirable, They also allow you to connect with the emotions that people go through when we have been at the point of wanting to commit suicide..
According to official data from 2019, one person commits suicide a day in the Valencian Community. We still do not know the statistics of 2020 y 2021, the years of the pandemic, but we can imagine that this curve will also have risen. Luckily, Mental health has been the focus of debate in recent months on different fronts, from sports to politics. Your book couldn't have come at a better time...
If I had done it on purpose it wouldn't have happened. I feel that something that I do not control makes everything flow in a very easy way from the moment I decide to tell my story until the book is published a few weeks ago.. As if the path was already laid out; and I feel enormously grateful for all the people who accompany me and whom I am meeting in the process. It is a continuous learning because I know that The yellow girl It will always be part of my life. And if with this project we manage to save a life, then it will have made complete sense..
The Department of Education has just launched a new educational strategy to prevent suicide in the school environment that includes an action protocol and a teacher training program. How do you value the measure? What else can public authorities do to help minimize the problem?? What can we do as individuals to detect suicidal behavior?, treat it sensitively and prevent it?
This measure is absolutely necessary and makes me think that we are on the way, taking steps to help more people and prevent from childhood. I also hope that this measure is the beginning of a comprehensive and urgent plan that would be the National Plan for Suicide Prevention, because we need all prevention agents to be coordinated and communicated: the educational field, healthcare, security forces, media and civil society. All people can be suicide prevention agents if we are aware; creating spaces for our environment, without judgment, worrying in our small circles about people who give signs like isolation, mood swings, addictions, or if they verbalize that they want to disappear. let's not be afraid, let's ask them openly if they are thinking about suicide and let's offer them our support. Talking saves lives, Silence is what can take you to the deepest hole. So, let's talk about suicide.
Help lines:
Hope Phone: 717 003 717
Anti-suicide phone: 911 385 385
Emergencies 112
