This Tuesday, at the end of the Assizes of Mental Health and Psychiatry, Emmanuel Macron, among other things, announced the coverage of eight consultations with psychologists per year up to 30 euros. An effort welcomed by Benjamin Lubszynski, therapist, while pointing out the limits of measurement.
- From 2022, Health Insurance will reimburse up to eight consultations with liberal psychologists per year, up to 40 euros for the first session and 30 euros for the following ones.
- A toll-free number against psychological distress and suicide prevention, 3114, will be available this Friday.
“For a long time, the means put in were not up to the task”, declared Emmanuel Macron when announcing new measures to improve the psychological care of patients during the Assizes of mental health and psychiatry. This observation is quite an understatement, as explained by Benjamin Lubszynski, therapist and author of the book “Being Zen can be learned” which will be released on October 27 by Editions du Rocher, when reviewing the various announcements. The needs were dire and the responses, “if they have the merit to exist”, is “come up against the pitfall of reality”, he underlines.
A refund still too partial
To improve the mental health of the French, the President wanted to encourage patients to consult. For this, he announced that from 2022 Health Insurance will reimburse up to eight consultations of liberal psychologists per year, up to 40 euros for the first session and 30 euros for the following ones.
“The problem is that these figures are not up to market prices which are on average 60 eurosand even more in the Paris region”, points out Benjamin Lubszynski. A discrepancy that could prove to be too great to effectively promote consultation. “Then, for professionals, it can force them to lower prices, which can prevent them from being able to reimburse all their expenses”, he notes. Finally, this can push to shorten the sessions to lower the costs in order to favor the consultations and therefore to have a follow-up which decreases in quality.
A training problem
The therapist also notes some absences in the measures of the President of the Republic. First and foremost is the issue of training. Reimbursement for only eight sessions requires therapy over a short period of time, whereas usually the long term prevails. For example, for behavioral therapies, such as treating phobias, it takes between 6 months and 1 year. “Currently, we do not have enough trained professionals to meet a demand in a short time because many will stop at these eight sessions and the professionals are not equipped to meet all their needs over such a period of time.”, laments Benjamin Lubszynski.
The latter also calls for the announcements to be clarified, mainly for professionals. “AT what will the psychologists be obliged to do?he asks himself. Will they have to report to the attending physician? Will they have to do a review after 8 sessions? Will they have to respond to specific acts? If they have to do all this, it will be very heavy work that will be required of them..”
3114, a toll-free number against psychological distress
Finally, one of the last elements to emerge from the Mental Health and Psychiatry Conference is the establishment of a toll-free number against psychological distress and the prevention of suicides, 3114. This number will be available from this Friday. and reachable 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. “This number is a good thingemphasizes Benjamin Lubszynski. The fact that a trained person can answer rather than an overwhelmed doctor on 112, this will prevent suicides.”
But there again, the therapist calls for more clarity as to the functioning of this new service. “We’ll have to develop effective standardization to respond to suicidal peoplehe insists. When a person has a heart attack and a loved one calls 112, the doctor on the line will tell him what to do to save him. It’s the same there. You will need to know what to answer, how and to whom to redirect the caller. The risk is that this number becomes just one more number.”
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