In 2023, requests for help regarding suicide increased (+24% compared to 2022): over 7,000 contacts arrived at Telefono Amico Italia, the association reports in view of September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, when the monuments of some Italian cities will light up in blue, the symbolic color of Telefono Amico Italia. “Never before have so many requests for help for suicidal thoughts of oneself or a loved one”, even if “in 2024 we can see a small reversal of the trend: in the first half of the year, requests for help were 3,500, -6.5% from the first half of 2023”. Numbers that are however “still very far from pre-pandemic levels”, when the volunteer organization handled “a thousand calls of this type per year”, underlines Telefono Amico Italia. Of the more than 7,000 requests for help received in 2023 from people experiencing thoughts of suicide or worried about the possible suicide of a loved one, 75% arrived by telephone, 18% by chat, and 7% by email. Telefono Amico Italia was contacted more often by women (51%), who were the majority to write both on Whatsapp (57%) and by email (54%); men and women instead called in equal measure.
“In recent years we have seen how people have increasingly learned to ask for help – says Cristina Rigon, president of Telefono Amico Italia – Now it is the institutions that must learn to listen and give a timely and structural response. We will continue to help those who turn to us, but we can only get so far. We are making ourselves available to participate in a national roundtable, to identify the right interventions and strategies to implement”.
The need for a prevention plan is also underlined by Istat data which, in the last monitored year, 2021, reported an increase in suicides: there were 3,870, compared to 3,748 in 2020. An increase that is found in all age groups except for those aged 50-64 and which is higher among the under 49s. Between the ages of 15 and 34, in particular, the growth in suicides in 2021 was 16%. “The most recent data show an increase in the number of suicides, perhaps also due to the effect of the pandemic that has added to the fragilities already existing in some individuals – remarks Maurizio Pompili, full professor of Psychiatry at Sapienza University of Rome and director of the Complex Operating Unit of Psychiatry at the Sant’Andrea University Hospital in Rome – Having the epidemiological data on suicides available is central to the analysis of the phenomenon because it allows us to observe its trend and therefore also to implement preventive measures”.
If the latest Istat data on suicides depict a growing phenomenon, the many people who receive help indicate the path to follow and highlight the importance of prevention. “The creation of contexts dedicated to suicide prevention, which use all the specific and multidisciplinary knowledge on the phenomenon, certainly helps to save lives – continues Pompili – Primary prevention is fundamental, that is, it increases awareness about suicide prevention. Then it is necessary to focus on the groups at risk and define ad hoc preventive interventions, such as in the case of young people or the elderly. Finally, tertiary prevention intervenes on those who have made suicide attempts or have serious suicidal ideation. The organization of preventive interventions that go in these three directions could counteract the phenomenon; the use of helplines and listening centers represent essential interventions”.
In recent years, requests for help to Telefono Amico Italia have increased more and more, for this reason the organization has decided to further expand the national telephone service by increasing the guaranteed listening time by 1 hour: from September 1, 2024, volunteers will answer 02.2327.2327 from 9 am to midnight (no longer from 10 am to midnight). The telephone is the tool used by most people who contact Telefono Amico Italia, but there are two other ways to ask for help, which are increasingly used: the WhatsappAmico chat service (324.011.7252) and email, accessible by filling out an anonymous form on the website www.telefonoamico.it.
“The three tools – the association reports – differ in terms of the age of the people who used them. The telephone was used by 18.5% of people between 26 and 35, by 17.5% between 46 and 55 and by 17% by 56-65 year olds. Chat was used mostly by young people between 19 and 25 (25%), by 26-35 year olds (22%) and by the very young between 15 and 18 (21%). Email also has a younger user base than the telephone: 14.5% are between 19 and 25, 13% between 15 and 18 and between 46 and 55”.
Appeal to institutions, ‘psychological bonus is not enough’
“Prevention is the only way we have to combat the phenomenon of suicides”, is the appeal launched by Telefono Amico Italia and its president Cristina Rigon to the institutions. “In recent years we have witnessed a growing attention towards mental health. The psychologist bonus is certainly an example – continues Rigon – A first step in the right direction, but it is not enough. We need structural interventions that also reach those who do not know how to ask for help, and more specific ones for suicide prevention”.
‘Changing the narrative’ of suicide is the theme identified by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) for World Suicide Prevention Day 2024. The goal is to move from a vision in which suicide is a stigma and a taboo to one in which it is a phenomenon that can and must be prevented. To do this, policies and legislation that consider mental health a priority, that improve access to care and provide support to those who need it, are essential.
“Suicide and mental health must become the subject of a public, open, constructive dialogue, involving all the subjects and professionals involved – concludes Rigon – Only a structural and multidisciplinary approach, which knows how to take charge with the right tools every phase of mental pain that can lead to suicide, can be effective”. On Sunday 15 September, Telefono Amico Italia is planning the new edition of the event ‘Non parlarne è 1 dottrina della sanità, to meet citizens and help people become aware of their emotions: the first step to take care of yourself and prevent your temporary discomfort from turning into something more serious.
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