How long does it take until someone decides it is time to kill themselves? A question with no answer. Most people attribute it to weakness, to bad parenting, to selfishness, to lack of faith and many other misinformed perceptions people have about depression. In the past years suicide rates have been increasing amongst younger people in the United States, taking the podium as the 2nd leading cause of death between people aged 25 – 34 and the third between people aged 15 – 24; and surprisingly, most of us are completely unaware of this.
To bring awareness to this tragic fact, the International Association for Suicide Prevention, IASP, nominated September 10th as the World Suicide Prevention Day as September 2016 is the National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. In order to popularize this, three Brazilian organizations created the #SetembroAmarelo campaign or #YellowSeptember. Since 2014, the CVV – Centro de Valorização da Vida (the Brazilian mental illness hotline organization), Federal Council of Medicine and the Brazilian Association of Psychiatry have organized several activities to help prevent that those numbers increase.
The last few weeks, several actions have been taken to create empathy in the hearts and minds of people. Movements such as a #SetembroAmarelo walk in several cities in Brazil, Facebook posts and Instagram users opening their direct messages for others to share and talk about their problems are motivating Brazilian people to learn about mental illness, how to deal with it or someone who has it, how to talk about it and how to prevent the worst. A picture posted on your profile or a 140 characters tweet might seem like a small action, but it helps many get informed.
It is important to educate the population on matters like these, because they are still considered controversial topics, things that shouldn't be talked about, which creates obstacles when trying to treat those who are sick and diagnose them. A big part of the population has had a crisis before but does not talk about it or seeks helps because there is an ignorant notion that people who are not physically sick are not "really" sick. Campaigns like these help to eliminate this stigma one talk at a time, so learn, educate other people, share and do not be afraid to seek help.
If you are seeking support/going through a crisis/knows somebody who might need help, the following numbers are availabe in the United States:
Nami Helpline: 800-950-6264
Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273 TALK (8255)
They also provide a online chat on their website.
