Hidden Friend

Hello, I am the one who should not be named. I am the one who enters your family so abruptly and leave a trail of pain, sorrow and unanswered questions. I'm the one that I can be with your family member, friend, neighbor, or anyone you meet and you do not even suspect it.

Hello, I'm suicide.

The month of September is as if it were the month of my birthday, everyone talks about me in newspapers, magazines, television andinternet. It is a very special month for me.Everybody wants to say something about me this month, but some people talk a few lies. No, I don't want to call attention to myself; Talking about me is not going to make me your friend. Not a friend! I have to confess, I am a false friend. And, as false, I'll tryalways be close to you, even if they hide our friendship on the first attempt; And no, I don't just like people with mental illness, I'm a friend of everyone who wants to to be with me.

But despite being a false friend, I came to give you a solution to your problem, because you think there is no other way out. People do not care about your problem, I care. People bully you, I don't. People belittle their pain, and I bring supposed comfort. The funniest thing about it all is that I exist because of you, because of everyone. I love the world we live in, people are getting more and more individualistic, less empathic, the status of a person is measured by their financial power, by the number of friends on Facebook® ou Instagram®, by the perfect body. The failure should never occur, because failure brings guilt, low self-esteem and, if you have it, you are not meant to be friends with people.

But, hey, I'm here.

Look how funny: people do not like to talk about me, but they help me to have friends, they get people to look for me, and they have no idea - or maybe they do - but they do not want to face the truth. But you know, I'm tired of being fake, so I'm going to give some advice to you who are reading this. Look around you, look at your family, friends, colleagues, anyone you are close to. Are they sad, apathetic, hostile, isolated, have had some change in their behavior, feel guilty for something, are more impulsive, talk about death and die? If so, hey, I might be starting a friendship with that person.

But you can prevent our friendship! How? Go to this person and ask: "How are you? Is everything ok? Want to talk about something? You are important to me and I am here to help you with whatever you need! I know good professionals who can help you!" Be warm, careful, be around this person always, be a friend.

See? It's not that difficult, but those words will, somehow, help this person and maybe she can win a true friend: Life, that's her name.

For more information visit: https://www.cvv.org.br/ ; https://www.iasp.info/ ; http://www.befrienders.org/

Caio Augusto Colombo. Psychologist. Graduated in Social Sciences from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR) and graduated in Psychology from the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). Specialist in Health Psychology through the Program ofMultiprofessional Residence in Urgency and Emergency by the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP). Currently works in the area of ​​Hospital Psychology.