The future of suicide and depression prevention

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I live in Poland, a country in which the youngest child who committed suicide was 7 years old. She jumped out of the window. In 2016 9861 self-destructive events took place and 55% of them finalised with death. It is a land in which in 2017 more people died as a result of suicide than car accident. I personally know one person who died in a car accident and four people who decided to take their lives. Last piece of news about suicide in my local newspaper was from two months ago. The numbers are, as always, cruel.

Poland is a beautiful country yet haunted by a stigma of „only freaks go to a therapist” and „will your patients still trust you if they find out you have depression?”. Nobody speaks like that about sinusitis or otitis, yet mental illnesses are becoming as common as common flu. And just as otitis, when not cured, can lead to disability or worse.

“An ill doctor is a bad doctor”, a Polish saying says. Also mentally ill, should it follows. Therefore medical education workers should be the first ones to bring up the subject of suicide and depression prevention with students in order to protect them from terrible consequences. The students as well as practitioners should be sensitized to first symptoms of depression and burnout to break the stigma and save our patients.

In order to succeed we should keep advocating for better prevention through social campaigns and changes in medical curriculum. in those action IFMSA can be a perfect medium.

Numerous studies show that most people who commit suicide speak about their struggles before the „last day”. That is why we should become more sensitive to what we hear from our patients, friends, parents. On the other hand, phrases such as „dead inside” or „omg I’m dying” have became overused in spoken language and social media. Only being mindful about what we say or type can let the ones in need be heard.

Not all is lost though. A lot good has been done in my beautiful city recently. This year Medical University of Bialystok has offered free meetings with a psychotherapist for all students. Last year our Clinical Children Hospital opened Paediatric Psychiatry Ward. Those are indeed commendable actions, now we have to make a use of it and encourage those in need to use given opportunities.

Poland is a beautiful country because here all medical professionals since their first day of training are obliged to serve people in need. In other words: today we are responsible for our future patients.

It is now 2019, national statistical survey on suicide has not yet been done in Poland. That means it is still  not too late to make a change this year. It is not too late to sensitise ourselves and encourage others to approach mental health services.