This article is part of our “Les focuses de franceinfo” operation, which highlights key topics that are little covered in the presidential campaign: the cost of housing, the public hospital crisis, the taboo of mental health and the carbon footprint of transport.
For two years, the studies accumulate and do not contradict each other: the mental health of the French is deteriorating. The phenomenon is even global since the World Health Organization (WHO) sounded the alarm on July 22, 2021, after more than a year of a health crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic will have an impact “long-term and far-reaching” on mental healththen warned the WHO.
While this theme is struggling to impose itself in the presidential campaign, franceinfo has chosen to integrate it into a series of “focus”, published a few weeks before the election. Four files, made up of reports and analyses, on subjects sometimes overshadowed by public debate. In addition to the mental health taboo, the public hospital crisis, the carbon footprint of transport and the cost of housing are part of this series.
Why franceinfo talks about it
Fever, cough, sneezing… Do you recognize them? These physical symptoms made the news with the Covid-19. Yet the pandemic has not only affected our bodies. The rapid spread of the virus, contamination and/or death of a loved one, isolation, interruption of care, reduced sociability, lack of physical exercise, blurring of the lines between personal and professional lives … Our psyches were also affected.
These difficulties do not date from the pandemic. The disorders relating to mental health (anxiety, uncharacterized depressive episode) and psychiatry (depression, addictions, behavioral disorders, bipolarity, etc.) rank third among love the more recurrent, after cancer and cardiovascular problems, according to the WHO. One in four people on average will face it in their lifetime, already warned the United Nations organization in 2001 (in PDF).
Corn the health situation has exacerbated these problems. Nearly one in five adults (17%) in France shows signs of a depressive state, and nearly one in four (23%) shows an anxious state, according to the latest wave of the CoviPrev survey. of Public Health France, carried out in February. They were only 10% and 14% respectively before the pandemic. In addition, 10% of French people had suicidal thoughts during the year 2021, according to this same survey. That’s twice as much as before Covid-19. The youngest, women and people in precarious situations have been particularly affected.
The figure: one in two patients is not treated
Despite this wide prevalence of mental disorders, 40% to 60% of people who experience them are not taken care of.according to French Mutuality (in PDF)a federation of mutual. However, it is the category of pathologies which represents the highest cost for Medicare, recalls the Ministry of Health. Weak care, all the more damaging as mental disorders are closely linked to other forms of illness. The people depressed have, for example, 30% less chance of‘be in good cardiovascular health, notes Inserm.
How to explain this delay? “We tend to minimize or not realize” of his own suffering, argues Maurice Bensoussan, president of the Syndicate of French psychiatrists, while a taboo persists around mental illnesses, often equated with madness. The psychiatrist also reports a lack of knowledge of the various professionals that can be consulted.
Many territorial and economic inequalities also persist in access to care. Only 597 child psychiatrists were registered with the Order of Physicians in 2020, compared to 1,235 in 2007, notes the Mutualité française. In 17 French departments (including Allier, Ariège or Cantal), there were no registered practitioners. The rates of equipment in psychiatric establishments per inhabitant vary from simple to double according to the departments, also notes the federation.
The question to ask yourself: how do I know if I should consult a professional?
To locate, Public health France distinguishes between two types of damage to good mental health. The first is the “reactive psychological distress”, induced by “the trying situations and existential difficulties” such as bereavement, relationship or school failure. When this distress “is temporary and follows a stressful event, it is considered a normal adaptive reaction” and does not require therapeutic intervention, writes the health agency. Clear, “being in good mental health does not mean not having difficulties”reassures the psychiatrist Maurice Bensoussan. “Feeling an emotion like sadness or anxiety is not a sign of illness.out as there are forms of hyper-normality, with attitudes of distancing from problems, where one feels nothing, which are not signs of fulfillment”he points out.
On the other hand, when this distress “becomes intense and lasts, it can be an indicator of a psychic disorder.” If you feel the need, do not hesitate to contact a professional, such as your general practitioner or a psychologist.
The second type of attack on the mental balance, they are the “psychiatric disorders”. They refer to classifications “which come under targeted therapeutic actions and medical care”. “When you can no longer work, eat, sleep, or when you have suicidal thoughts”, in particular, it is therefore imperative talk to your general practitioner, who will make an initial diagnosis and redirect you to a psychiatric professional.
What are the presidential candidates saying?
The subject of mental health remains little discussed since the start of the presidential campaign and struggles to exist within the programs, particularly on the right and the extreme right. Valerie Pécresse nevertheless wishes to make mental health a “great cause” – just like the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo – by giving the “priority” at “de-stigmatization and research” and creating a national institute of mental health.
Among the other proposals of the candidates, Jean-Luc Melenchon wants to put in place a major plan to strengthen the networks of medico-psychological centers (CMP), reopen public beds in psychiatry or even increase the number of places in the faculty of medicine in the psychiatric sector. The communist candidate Fabien Roussel also wants to increase the health personnel in psychiatry via the presentation to the Padoption of a framework law in favor of psychiatry. Yannick Jadot aims to establish mental health monitoring reimbursed by Social Security, with particular attention paid to the most affected populations (farmers, students, people who are victims of addiction, the homeless, migrants). It also plans to increase the number of university psychological aid offices and wishes to set up a reimbursement without advance of the costs of city psychology consultations for those under 25 years of age.
If you need help, you can call 3114, the national suicide prevention number. The Suicide listening line, for people confronted with the suicide of a loved one, can be reached on 01 45 39 40 00. For the youngest, the Youth health thread is accessible on 0800 235 236 or by chat on sonantejeunes.com