The pattern is sadly known: they tell their families that they are about to graduate, but on the day of the discussion or proclamation, they take their own lives. Only then do the parents discover that their daughter or son had not taken the exams necessary for the qualification. This could precisely be the dynamic of the tragedy that occurred on 17 April 2026 in Rome, where Miriam Indelicato was found lifeless in the entrance hall of her building.

The party turned into a nightmare

Although an accident or murder cannot yet be officially ruled out, the fact that the student had lied about her degree – announcing the discussion for that day when in reality she had not been enrolled for years – raises fears of the shadow of a voluntary gesture. The parents had arrived from Trapani that very morning; what was supposed to be a day of celebration turned into the worst of nightmares. All this pain can be avoided if we can intercept the source of the discomfort and intervene in time.

We do not allow “holes in the CV”

Because if these students kill themselves to avoid admitting a difficulty, it is our fault too. It is the fault of a society that does not allow “holes in the curriculum”, which transmits the idea, since childhood, that stopping means getting lost and that no one will wait for you. It is the fault of a culture that constantly makes us feel at fault, regardless of the objectives achieved. This cannot be normalized. Competition cannot be canceled and, if healthy, represents a fundamental stimulus for growth; yet, it is clear that the perception of the standards necessary to define oneself as “successful” has risen to such an extent as to generate a now endemic social anxiety disorder. Social media is one of the main culprits and limiting access to it to children under 14 is a good start, but we can’t stop there: it would be completely insufficient.

The mental health of children

We must work on the mental health of young people, transmitting confidence and hope to them, especially when things are not going well and we are faced with a physiological moment of confusion. I don’t intend to blame families, whose approach to their children’s results we don’t know, but I feel the duty to reiterate a concept that unfortunately is no longer taken for granted today: life is worth more than any title. There are students who cannot even imagine an existence without a degree and who, despite finding themselves in serious difficulty, refuse to change their path out of fear of being considered failures.

Stop praising record graduations

At a media level, we should stop praising record degrees as if studying were a competition to see who is fastest. The challenge is with ourselves, with our limits and our objectives, which are inevitably different from those of everyone else. Of course, comparing is a human instinct, but we must maintain clarity to understand that if the comparison only generates envy or shame, then something is not working. It is at that moment that we must find the strength to ask for help, because sometimes, alone, it is impossible to escape from the vicious mental cycles that lead us to see everything as black and hopeless.