The day Xavi told his two children it was like getting rid of a weight that had oppressed him since he was a child. Finally, he was able to show himself as he had felt almost all his life: someone who, as a result of the bullying he suffered at school, grew up with depression on his back. And he hid it. “I knew I wasn’t well, I was in pain, I was suffering… I never explained anything to anyone,” he says. From that sincere conversation with his people, Xavi broke down the wall that made him invisible, a wall that, if not torn down, increases the social stigma that still exists on any type of disorder related to mental health.
Today, he is used to telling his experience. Like Adriana, he had a particularly bad time as a teenager. “It would have been nice if someone at that moment told me that something could happen to me,” he confesses. Or Maria Antonia, who overcame shame and dared to come forward. “You have to be able to talk about it, enough of being silent. We must understand it and break the prejudices that exist about people with mental disorders,” she says. “We encourage people to talk and it is healthy for both parties. “I feel good and fulfilled,” defends Eiden, who says he feels “empowered.”
All of them are part of Obertament, an organization committed for more than a decade to disseminating stories from anonymous citizens about mental health told in the first person. The voice of these four testimonies joins that of many others who have wanted to show themselves to others to help those who, like them, have experienced a similar process without knowing how to ask for help. Because when you live with a mental disorder, isolating yourself is the most common thing, as well as being unable to cope with the anguish or the illness itself. Among those affected, the underlying discomfort and its consequences are so overwhelming that anti-stigma activism becomes essential.
Given the lack of understanding and beliefs so deeply rooted in our society, many people affected by mental disorders see how their relationships suffer or present greater difficulties in areas such as work and studies. Their experiences are more common than we could imagine. Worldwide, 450 million people are affected by a mental health problem that seriously makes their lives difficult. Of these, between 35% and 50% do not receive any treatment or the treatment they receive is not adequate, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns.
In the case of Spain, almost half of young people between 15 and 29 years old consider that they have had some mental health problem; while, in Catalonia, one in four people over 14 years of age has emotional distress and almost one in ten has been diagnosed with moderate or severe depression, according to data recently collected in the report La salut mental i l’autonomia personal released. by the Generalitat of Catalonia. The objective is for the surveys to demonstrate a different reality.
For all these reasons, Obertament brings together people who have gone through the experience of a mental disorder and who, already recovered or in the process of recovery, are trained and committed to the fight against stigma by offering their story to the general public. At first there were only about twenty. Currently, hundreds of activists from all over Catalonia have joined the various campaigns that have been developed since the first No et mosseguis la llengua, in 2012, to others such as Dona la cara (2014-15), Parla obertament (2018) or Jo no estic bé (2021) emerged as a result of the pandemic.
Since 2012, more than 500 people with mental health problems have gone through the training offered by the entity free of charge. Obertament has a network of more than 180 anti-stigma activists, people who provide truthful and sensitive stories that can change our perception of mental health and combat prejudice. Their testimonies have gone very far. In addition to occupying a space in the media, they have recounted their experiences at the Palau de la Generalitat to request social and health measures, they have advised professionals and they have participated in the National Mental Health Pact
Thus, in 2022, the It’s not my fault campaign, aimed at a younger audience (between 16 and 22 years old), offered informative material on social networks that brought mental health closer to that population group most affected by the pandemic. Some of these young activists offered their testimony before the president of the Generalitat and the main councilors. Over the years, the impact measurement of Obertament campaigns shows that the perception of mental health has improved. Studies by l’Enquesta de Salut de Catalunya (ESCA) have shown that stigma has been reduced since 2011.
Giving voice to what you have experienced and showing yourself to others is not only a way to free yourself but also marks the path for others affected. Activists become references for people who have felt afraid, ashamed or guilty of explaining what they are suffering and their example, from closeness, can encourage others to come out of isolation and ask for help. Still, much remains to be done. Obertament will continue working by and for the people and encouraging us all to contribute our grain of sand.
