Depression is the number one culprit in suicides and those suffering from it are those who do not know how to cope with sadness or grief.

Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), emphasized on Tuesday that it is high time the government raise the importance of mental health issues as he cited the rising suicide rate in the country.

The main issue is that mental health problems, such as depression and substance abuse, are not being addressed because of the negative connotation behind them — instead, skirting the issue makes the problems worse.

According to him, depression is the number one culprit in suicides and those suffering from it are those who do not know how to cope with sadness or grief, hence the reason why they take their lives.

“We call them victims of depression. We don’t say they killed themselves, we say depression killed them as they did not know how to cope,” Bishop David explained.

In the Philippines alone, Department of Health (DoH) data shows that since 2016, there have been 2,413 suicide cases in the country. There have also been other statistics that show a rising number of suicide cases such as in Bohol.

Meanwhile, a study by the United Nations-World Health Organization states that mental illness starts at a very young age and often leads to suicide by the age of 15 to 29 years if not treated immediately.

Bishop David said that the recent passing of the Mental Health Law was necessary and beneficial because it is now the right time to spread the importance of mental health and to open the public’s awareness to the situation in which people with mental health problems are experiencing.

He also appealed to the DoH to be more active in conducting drug rehabilitation programs in the country as drug addiction or substance use disorder is also a type of mental health problem that must be addressed through medical treatment.