Published: 08-05-2024 15:58 | Updated: 13-05-2024 11:47

Interview with Danuta Wasserman in the Spanish newspaper El País

Portrait of Danuta Wasserman.
Danuta Wasserman Photo: Ulf Sirborn

Danuta Wasserman, professor of psychiatry and suicidology at the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) and chair of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), participates in an interview with the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais – in a discussion about the increasing mental health problems, suicide, and the global challenges we face.

The interview took place in Palma de Mallorca where Danuta Wasserman was invited to present at the 8th World Congress of the World Association of Dual Disorders (WADD) and the 26th Congress of the Spanish Society of Dual Disorders (SEPD). 

– A brain with suicidal thoughts has a lot of anxiety, ambivalence, and anger. If you can reduce the anxiety and anger, if you can make the ambivalence less powerful, you can help that person. So, what is the most important thing to gain time with a suicidal person? To sit down and maybe not talk, but be close, says Danuta Wasserman.