Would you feel guilty if you had a heart attack? The stigma of mental health, told in cartoons

As a doctor, Ignacio Rosell knows perfectly the symptoms of an anxiety attack: shortness of breath, tachycardia, sweating ... However, when he suffered one a few months ago, it was of little use to know them.

"I was really scared," he tells

by phone

, "I thought I was having a heart attack."

When Rosell, who also acts as secretary of the group of experts that advises the Junta de Castilla y León in the fight against covid-19, was treated by 112, he remembers that "before thanking them, I started to apologize" .

“The next day was when I reflected on that, and on whether I would have reacted the same if, instead of an anxiety attack, I had given a heart attack.

Would you have apologized in that case?

No, and it's because of the stigma around mental health. "

Rosell shared this reflection on his Twitter account, and received dozens of responses.

Many of them, acknowledging having felt the same.

Along with his reflection, Rosell also shared a short comic on his networks "that has been around for a while, I found it on networks years ago and I translated it myself," he says.

This compares, with humor, what would happen if we dedicate the topics and stereotypes that we dedicate to mental illnesses to physical illnesses.

“Everything that seems absurd when talking about physical illness should also be absurd with mental illness.

I made that mistake, even against myself, "he wrote in the message.

A few days ago, for the first time in my entire life, I had a fit of #anxiety.

It was in my work, we are under a lot of pressure.

After being treated, I asked FORGIVENESS before saying THANK YOU.

And now I realize the #stigma that that implies.

Would you have apologized for having a heart attack?

- Ignacio Rosell (@nachorosell) June 17, 2020

The stigma of mental health, as

the psychologist Sara González

explained to

in this report, is a process by which we accept stereotypical and negative beliefs linked to mental disorders.

We not only channel these stereotypes towards others, but also towards ourselves, in what is known as internalized stigma.

"This sometimes makes the person feel guilt, social anxiety ... And they can even make the person prefer not to receive psychological help," says González.

To help demolish this stigma, we have prepared a comic illustrated by Sara Caballería [author of the special:

] inspired by Rosell's reflections on mental health and its stigma:

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