During the holidays, the editorial team resumes its series of reflections on the issues that will shape our world in the coming years. Individual and collective challenges will constantly challenge us on these social questions which we will approach from the angle of solutions, as far as possible. Today: anxiety and psychological distress.
The World Health Organization makes it a “universal right”. However, the mental health of citizens of the world, like that of Quebecers, remains increasingly shaky. On all platforms, in all instances, we are now naming these evils, we are breaking down taboos, we are calling on those who suffer to talk about them. But nothing works. The psychological health of our society continues to fester and engulf in its darkness a growing number of victims of its all-too-contagious pain.
The pandemic explanation, and the sudden arrival of a mysterious and deadly coronavirus, would be simplistic to document an unhappiness which preceded these years of more acute crisis. Fifteen years ago, one in five Canadians already suffered from a mental disorder or illness. Today, half of those aged 40 and over are navigating these same troubled waters. And anxiety or depression are the main carriers of these misfortunes (10.4% and 9.6% of the Canadian population, according to Statistics Canada).
Never before have we been so connected to the rest of the world, but at the same time fundamentally isolated. The proliferation of social networks increases tenfold the number of “friends”, hearts or thumbs up showing outpourings of affection and solidarity. However, these virtual interactions often result in a heavy absence of reality. The phone no longer rings. Neither does the house doorbell. This dematerialization of our social relationships – combined with tenacious teleworking and the post-pandemic withdrawal reflex – is such that the WHO ruled in November that loneliness now poses an “urgent threat to health”.
An overabundance of virtual connections which also results in an overdose of information, some more anxiety-provoking than the others. Between armed conflicts, natural disasters, the climate crisis, the cost of living crisis or the weight of professional, social and family performance, anxiety disorders have plenty of time to choose a slump to cling to.
Those who suffer from them, on the other hand, struggle to find the help that would be essential to overcome them. Waiting lists continue to grow – sometimes up to seven months to be able to consult – while the dangerous exodus of psychologists from the public system to the private sector continues. As if, charitable, mental health disorders only afflicted the richest, while we know that the less well off are nevertheless the first victims of these social determinants (more numerous, by 43% and 69% respectively, at suffer from anxiety or depression than their highest-income citizens).
Equitable in its torment, mental health also spares no generation. Our elderly people, often the loneliest in our society, too frequently live with the fear of seeing their physical or cognitive health decline. The psychological distress of our young people no longer needs to be documented, between the increase in visits to emergency rooms and that of prescriptions for anxiolytics, antidepressants and other medications treating the omnipresent ADHD. With the working population in the worst shape, this age of anxiety is undermining not only our health systems but also our economy, through its loss of productivity. Perhaps such an impact will finally shake up our leaders.
Because the population is increasing, so is its discomfort, while psychosocial, psychological and psychiatric resources are crumbling. The status quo announces the massacre. Action plans are in place. The funding envelopes have been increased. But it is clear that a mental health crisis seems to be in the cards.
The remedies proposed are multiple. Prevention, accessibility of care, their quality as well as their continuity, advocates the DD Christine Grou, president of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec. As well as greater collaboration in order to decompartmentalize and unclog the tasks of health professionals, adds the DD Claire Gamache, president of the Association of Psychiatrists of Quebec.
The mental health of Quebecers requires that it finally be made a public health issue. And, therefore, to dedicate a separate branch of the future Agence Santé Québec to it. As well as the required budgets, rather than the anemic sums paid year after year to this poor relative of health.
The WHO has set ambitious goals for its members by the end of this decade. “Investing in mental health to transform it is tantamount to investing in human capital,” the organization wisely reminds leaders who might be tempted to persist in neglecting it. As Quebec begins its major reform project, this is the opportunity to finally stop ignoring the psychological and neuralgic aspects of its collective well-being.