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How can we protect the mental health of young people diagnosed with chronic illnesses to prevent suicidal thoughts?

Francisco Villar Cabeza
Dr. Francisco Villar Cabeza
Clinical Psychologist. Coordinator of the Care Program for Suicidal Behaviours in Minors
Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona

In my experience at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona , where I work, all units dealing with chronic childhood diagnoses have a psychology team. Of course, Oncology has a team of psycho-oncologists, but the Cystic Fibrosis unit also has a psychologist who is part of the multidisciplinary team.

To answer the question directly, my impression is that mental health services offer support to all these units by incorporating psychologists, who are usually part of the hospitals' consultation or liaison teams. And that this psychological support could eventually become an effective selective prevention intervention for those who might be at risk due to their circumstances. This could be the reason why we hardly see any young people with these problems through the suicidal behavior program, because they are already being addressed by these units.

There are also many first-person and family organizations, such as the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), which do immense work in providing psychological support.

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Francisco Villar Cabeza
Dr. Francisco Villar Cabeza
Clinical Psychologist. Coordinator of the Care Program for Suicidal Behaviours in Minors
Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona
Cecilia Borrás
Cecilia Borrás
Psychologist. Founding President
Después del Suicidio – Asociación de Supervivientes (DSAS)