 Spain's
'Crying Room' seeks to banish mental health taboo
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[October 18, 2021]
By Michael Gore
MADRID (Reuters) - "Enter and cry," one
sign tells visitors. "I too have anxiety," glows another notice in pink.
There are phones in one corner with the names of people you can call
when you are feeling down, including a psychologist.
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 Welcome to La Lloreria, or the Crying Room. Anyone can drop in at
the project, housed in a building in central Madrid, which aims to
remove the stigma in society attached to mental health, crying and
seeking help.
"It is a really excellent idea to visualise the mental health issue.
It is stigmatised to cry in Spain as in many other countries," said
Jon Nelssom, a Swedish student who lives in the Spanish capital.
A week ago Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez separately announced
a 100-million-euro ($116 million) mental healthcare drive, which
will include services such as a 24-hour suicide helpline.
"It is not a taboo, it is a public health problem that we must talk
about, make visible and act accordingly," he said about mental
illness as he launched the plan on Oct. 10, World Mental Health Day.
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 In 2019, 3,671 people died from suicide in
Spain, the second most common cause of death
after natural causes. One in 10 adolescents has
been diagnosed with a mental health condition
while 5.8% of the overall population suffers
from anxiety, according to government data.
($1 = 0.8621 euros)
(Reporting by Michael Gore; Writing by Graham
Keeley; Editing by Pravin Char)
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