Virna Hernández: “Caring for brilliant minds,” suicide prevention and mental health

The professional block of the 3rd Asperger World Meeting, devoted to suicide prevention, was opened by Dr. Virna Hernández, a clinical psychologist specializing in suicide prevention and a spokesperson on the topic of migration grief. Her talk: “Caring for brilliant minds: suicide prevention and mental health.”

The size of the problem

Hernández put figures on the table. The World Health Organization considers suicide a public health problem and estimates some 730,000 deaths a year worldwide — roughly one every 40 seconds — and acknowledges that it is still surrounded by stigma, myths, taboo and under-reporting.

“We are losing lives and we are losing years of life to this scourge.”

Using data from the Venezuelan Violence Observatory she showed the rise between 2022 and 2023 in her country, and the case of Mérida state, with the highest rates: there the study linked depression not only with bullying and alcohol use, but even with farmers' exposure to agrochemicals in rural areas.

A two-axis approach

Her thesis: it isn't enough to look at risk; you have to strengthen protection at the same time.

• Risk factors: previous attempts (the strongest predictor), depression, anxiety — highly comorbid in the autism spectrum —, bullying, isolation, low family support, low self-esteem, impulsive behaviours, and at the macro level political and social crises and migration grief.
• Protective factors: a support network, assertive communication, treating the topic naturally, early identification of warning signs and recognition of each person's strengths.

The myths to fight

“Less taboo and more awareness.”

Two common beliefs she dismantled, drawing on the studies she cited:

• “Only depressed people die by suicide”: depression is a risk factor, not a necessary precondition.
• “Whoever says it won't do it”: any mention must be taken as a warning sign and prompt immediate intervention.

On stigma — which she defined with Goffman as a form of exclusion — she noted that it pushes families to isolate themselves after a suicide, and that this concealment is the exact opposite of what prevention needs: visibility.

From the talk to action

Hernández did not stop at the diagnosis. She said that, from her study in Mérida, she launched “Alianza por la Vida”, a coalition of local and national organizations to work on prevention on the ground. Her message fits the framework of Dr. Andrea Villegas on bullying and the testimony of Miguel Eduardo Dorado on meaning and community as support.