A total of 403 people committed suicide in the Valencian Community in 2021, according to figures collected by the INE. They are less than the 440 that were finally counted in 2020 and even a lower figure than the 450 in 2019, but they are still above the 396 in 2018 or the 397 in 2017. In fact, the Valencian Community, despite being the third in terms of population, it continues to surpass Madrid in this tragic classification.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, 299 men took their lives in 2021 in the Community, compared to 104 women. The age group with the most cases was 50 to 54 years old, with 63 cases, followed by 55 to 59 years, with 51 suicides. Likewise, the data of the 30 who committed suicide between the ages of 15 and 29 or the three under the age of 15 who took their lives stands out. There was only one age group (70 to 79 years old) where more women died than men.
In this way, the Valencian Community was the third autonomous community behind Andalusia (849) and Catalonia (576) with the most suicides in 2021. Madrid was behind with 348.
These figures were complemented yesterday – World Mental Health Day – by the second vice president of the Consell and counselor of Social Services, Equality and Housing, Susana Camarero, who reported that the Valencian Community “is the second community in all of Spain with the most mental health problems.” depressive disorders, and in terms of addiction disorders suffered by young people, not only due to substance use but also due to internet or social media abuse, it is in first place.”
Camarero made these statements after the Interdepartmental Commission for the Coordination of Mental Health of the Generalitat that was held yesterday in the presence of the Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, and the Minister of Education, José Antonio Rovira. A commission that will be coordinated by psychiatrist Bartolomé Pérez, head of the new Autonomous Office of Mental Health and Addictions.
Precisely, Pérez announced that the Generalitat is going to include in the school health reports, which are given to students during the changes in each educational cycle, a screening or brief report on the detection of possible mental health problems. An evaluation that the family doctors themselves will carry out and that they want to implement next year.
Likewise, the new person in charge of Mental Health – he replaces the commissioner of the Botànic in this matter, Rafael Tabares – announced “new teams of psychologists, who will depend on the mental health services of each health department, but who will carry out their work in the school to offer guidance to teachers.
In a veiled criticism of his predecessor and the policy of the left-wing Government, Pérez pointed out "we are not going to work with established protocols for when a person already suffers from a mental health conflict, but rather the purpose is to prevent and detect it. All of this, with an absolute functional unity in terms of assistance".
The new Mental Health Plan on which the former senior official of the Valencian Government between 1995 and 2005 is working is expected to be in place before the end of the year.
