‘Enter and Cry’: Spain’s Crying Room wants to eliminate mental health taboo

We all need a good cry at some point in our lives, but sometimes even that does not come easily. But if you are in Spain, you could make use of a space designated for crying and contacting professionals who might be of help should you need it.

The Crying Room

Signs such as, ‘Enter and cry’ and ‘I too have anxiety’, wash the walls of La Lloreria, the Crying Room. This is a project housed in a building in central Madrid which hopes to remove the stigma associated with mental health, crying and seeking help.

Anyone is welcome to enter and cry or use the strategically-positioned phones with the names and contacts of people to call when you are feeling down and could use a psychologist.

Jon Nelssom, a Swedish student who lives in the Spanish capital, said:

It is a really excellent idea to visualize the mental health issue. It is stigmatized to cry in Spain as in many other countries.

Not a Taboo

In a separate development, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a 100-million-euro mental healthcare drive last week, which will include services such as a 24-hour suicide helpline. Launching the plan on World Mental Health Day, which was marked on Oct 10, Sanchez said:

It (mental health) is not a taboo, it is a public health problem that we must talk about, make visible and act accordingly.

In 2019, 3,671 people died from suicide in Spain, the second most common cause of death after natural causes.

It is estimated that one in 10 adolescents has been diagnosed with a mental health condition, while 5.8% of the overall population suffers from anxiety.