Since 2020, suicidal gestures and thoughts have increased among 11-14 year olds. There are twice as many visits to the emergency room for attempted suicide than before the health crisis, according to Santé Publique France. Professionals denounce the lack of resources in child psychiatry services.
At the rapid temporary reception for Parisian teenagers (Atrap), around fifteen teenagers are seen several times a week for emergency psychiatric consultations. They are between 10 and 15 years old and nearly half of them have attempted suicide. “I was brought here to try to sort it all out a bit,” says 14-year-old Luna. “I want to feel better so I can say to myself: OK, I will be able to be independent one day, I will be able to be responsible for myself”, confides the teenager. “Don’t get it into your head that psychiatrists or your parents are going to save you, continues Luna, it’s a job you do with yourself and with help from outsiders.”
The team of child psychiatrists, nurses and educators receive 90% of girls. “In a very caricatural way, explains Isabelle Sabbah Lim, head of department, one could say that young girls, when they are not well, they express their discomfort by hurting themselves. The boys will be more in externalized disorders, behavioral disorders, says the psychiatrist. And parents will not necessarily think of bringing a young person who consumes toxic substances, or who drives a scooter without a helmet, completely drunk, to the psychiatric emergency room. While most likely, there is the same suffering and the same uneasiness.”
Since the creation of the Atrap, a year ago, the telephone has not stopped ringing. Beds are lacking in child psychiatry and suicide attempts are increasing among adolescents. This phenomenon can be partly explained by the health crisis, but not only. “Adolescent is a bit like a fish in an aquarium, compares Isabelle Sabbah Lim. In the aquarium there is schooling, there are parents, there is the environment.” “When you listen to the news, we cannot say that we are currently presenting a peaceful, very exciting world. And we know very well how sensitive children and adolescents are to this climate.”
Teenagers: suicide attempts on the rise – Report by Margaux Queffelec
listen
If you need help, if you are worried or if you are confronted with the suicide of a member of your entourage, there are anonymous listening services. You can call 3114. The Suicide listening line can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 01 45 39 40 00. Other information is also available on the website of the Ministry of Solidarity and Health.