Spain: you can “go there and cry”

In Madrid, the “Room of Tears”, “La Lloreria” opened, where you can not only cry, but also ask for support – it has telephones on which everyone has the opportunity to call with a request for help.

The purpose of this innovation is to remove the mental health taboo. The sign above the entrance says: “Come in and cry.” There are telephones in the room with names of people you can call when you are upset, including a psychologist.

Anyone can enter the building, located in the center of the Spanish capital, and take part in the project. It aims to eliminate the stigma associated with mental health and seeking help in society. Swedish student Jon Nelssom, who lives in Madrid, says:

It’s a really great idea to highlight the mental health issue. In Spain, as in many other countries, crying is stigmatizing.

In a mental health advertising project called Room of Tears in Madrid, a woman is photographed in a bathtub. She pretends to call a psychologist, and two more women are standing next to a neon sign that says, “Feeling bad too, great.”

Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, announced last week that he has pledged € 100 million for a mental health program. It will include services such as a 24-hour suicide helpline. He announced that the project kicked off on October 10, World Mental Health Day:

“This is not a taboo, this is a public health issue, we have to talk about it, make it visible and act accordingly.”

In 2019, 3,671 people took their own lives in Spain. It is the second most common cause of death after natural causes. According to official figures, one in ten adolescents is diagnosed with a mental disorder, and 5.8% of the population suffers from anxiety disorder.

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