They could have had lower morale. Obviously, despite the attacks and the gloomy economic situation, the French do not seem more anxious than before. In any case, the figures for the consumption of drugs against anxiety disorders do not demonstrate the growing concern of the French. Le Point magazine provides an overview of the three categories of drugs most used in anxiety disorders. It is based on statistics provided by the National Health Insurance Fund for Salaried Workers (Cnamts).
First lesson, the consumption of “tranquilizers”, like Temesta, Lexomil, Seresta or Xanax, is experiencing a downward trend compared to 2014, with precisely a decrease of 42% compared to 2014.
The same is true for hypnotic benzodiazepines such as sleeping pills (Noctamide or Havlane), the number of boxes consumed also fell by 3.26% compared to 2014.
Only antidepressants such as Venlafaxine show a slight increase with an increase of 0.67% of the boxes prescribed and consumed in 2015 compared to 2014.
“Compensation phenomena”
This global downward movement is good news in the opinion of Professor Antoine Pelissolo, head of the psychiatry department at Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil and president of the French Association for Anxiety Disorders and Depression, interviewed by Le Point. This means that the use of drugs is less systematic after traumatic events. “Just because a population suffers from repeated trauma does not mean that its members automatically and morbidly become anxious,” he explains. Fortunately, there are compensation phenomena: human adaptation to their environment, group solidarity, resilience, individual and collective resistance, and many other mechanisms.
Some French people are also interested in complementary and gentler therapies such as relaxation, meditation, hypnosis, the sophrology, yoga, to fight against anxiety and stress.
Read also: 9 ways to better understand your stress
3 natural solutions to beat anxiety