As we suspected, it is now a reality: the first confinement (between March and May 2020) was accompanied by an increase in psychiatric disorders among the French population. “In psychiatry, the tension is permanent. It has only increased from year to year but we experienced a real climax with the post-confinement period, in June.“explained to AFP Dr. Fayçal Mouaffak, head of the pole at the mental health establishment (EPS) of Ville-Evrard in Saint-Denis.
Hallucinations, mood disorders, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety … Dr. Fayçal Mouaffak claims to fear a “psychiatric wave behind the epidemic wave“.”[Après le premier confinement], we expected depressions, anxieties, remembers Dr. Asma Ben Dhia, psychiatrist, interviewed by our colleagues from Point. But it was much more serious than that with many first severe psychotic episodes in patients with no prior psychiatric history.“
Containment, revealing (and accelerating) addictions
According to an Odoxa study carried out in April 2020, the first confinement also had an impact on … addictions. Indeed: 5.5 million French people have consumed more alcohol, 1 in 4 cannabis smokers have increased their consumption and 22% of French people have resorted more to anxiolytics or sleeping pills.
Will the situation happen again during this second confinement, scheduled until December 1 (at least)? In any case, 75% of French people fear an increase in their tobacco consumption, 55% of their cannabis consumption and 66% of their alcohol consumption …
“When we are dependent, we hide a lot from the eyes of others. By working from home, this barrier jumps and it becomes much more complicated. And it is applicable for all addictions“underlines Ariane Pommery de Villeneuve, a former alcoholic, now an expert patient at the Bichat hospital (Paris), interviewed by our colleagues from Le Parisien.
Source: Le Parisien, Thursday November 5, 2020.
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