The French have been very tested by the Covid crisis. And they must now endure an eruption of war in Europe which arouses the greatest fears. We return with the psychoanalyst Claude Halmos to the psychological consequences of all this. And especially on what we can do to protect ourselves.
franceinfo: First of all, you have to understand that receiving all this information is not trivial?
Claude Halmos: This brutal irruption of the war, in the life of the French, is all the more terrible as it comes to reopen their wounds not yet healed, of the Covid. Because it confronts them with the same psychological difficulties: stupefaction (war, until then, was a thing of the past, or very far from Europe), the risk of death (the terrifying nuclear threat), and to a feeling of utter uncertainty, and utter helplessness.
But in addition, it resonates in them a memory – transmitted unconsciously, from generation to generation – of the sufferings suffered, during wars, by previous generations. It is therefore very heavy, and it must be said, so as not to repeat what happened with the Covid where, for lack of warning people, they were not allowed to protect themselves.
What should they be warned about?
It would be necessary to make, for the psyche, a prevention equivalent to that which one makes for the body. For example, pollution being, as we know, all the more dangerous when we do not see it, in the event of a major episode, we warn people.
In the same way, knowing that many people think that only the problems of their private life (breakups, deaths) can make them go very badly, it should be explained to them that those who come from outside (from their life professional, or the state of the world) can also, without their realizing it, affect them very deeply. And they have to protect themselves.
How can we protect ourselves?
First by considering that the fear we experience is normal and legitimate, because the dangers we fear are not imaginary; they are quite real. And that it is therefore not a question of letting it prevent us from living; but neither to try artificially, to drive it away like a bad dream.
You have to take it in hand. That is to say, knowing for example that our anxiety, but also misinformation, can increase it, take care to get information, to assess the danger, only from reliable sources. And talk about it to the children, who should not be forgotten.
It is also necessary to spare oneself by avoiding encumbering oneself at the moment with unimportant problems: what we are going through is already heavy enough. And above all, you shouldn’t be alone, but share your concerns with others, discuss, and associate yourself, as much as possible, with solidarity actions.
Helping others, it must be repeated, is also helping oneself, by fighting against the feeling of powerlessness. And, faced with a Putin who claims to be all-powerful, it’s a good way to be able to say to yourself, like children: “not even true!”.