Some 400 million people in the world suffer from mental or neurological disorders and psychosocial problems. The devaluation of those perceived as different has profound repercussions both for individuals and for society with regard to mental illness. People with mental disorders are disqualified from social acceptance, they are stigmatized individuals, perceived as weak and treated with indulgence.
Secrecy becomes then the adaptive response to private and public shame.
This is true also for suicidal ideation. One of the most important issues in suicide prevention is getting people to seek help for their mental disorders and psychological disturbances, but this can only be effectively accomplished if mental illness is desitgmatized and awareness raised about effectiveness and availability of treatments for these disorders. Physicians also have an important role in this whole process of destigmatization. Enquiring about psychological disturbances, suicidal ideation and correctly evaluating patients is just a step. This will bring us towards a new public vision of mental health and mental illness.