Mental health: 30% of people under 24 have already had suicidal thoughts

This is the big event that professionals in the sector have been waiting for. This Monday opens the Assizes of mental health and psychiatry. Promised by Emmanuel Macron in response to the malaise of the French people caused by the Covid-19 crisis, they should result in concrete announcements from the Head of State to better take care of patients and come to the aid. to a sector “on the verge of implosion”which lacks resources and psychiatrists.

“A major issue”

If these Assizes are so awaited, it is because the mental health of the French is at its lowest, in particular that of young people. Hit hard by the health crisis and its consequences on their social and professional life, the under 24s would be, according to the depression barometer revealed on Monday by European 130% to have had suicidal thoughts in the past few months.

Questioned by Europe 1, Doctor Pierre de Maricourt, psychiatrist and head of department at Saint-Anne hospital in Paris, recalls that “Depression is the disease with the highest impact in terms of disability in the world, far above other diseases such as cardiovascular disease. It is really a disease that affects daily functioning and which, among young people, can penalize their development, their schooling and therefore the rest of their lives. This is a major issue.”

Reimbursement of psychologist consultations

Contacted by Agence France-Presse, health professionals in the psychiatric sector hope that Emmanuel Macron will announce, at the end of the debates, the reimbursement of consultations with psychologists, like the psy check set up for children in spring. But the unions fear the announcement of a tariff “indecent”. They also hope for an emergency plan to come to the aid of a “disaster public psychiatry”.

“The psychiatric sector is doing very badly. There is a shortage of beds, staff and doctors. It lacks everything noted this Monday on France Blue Normandy Marie-Pierre Colombé, clinical psychologist and member of the collective of Norman psychologists. It is very well the ambulatory. On the other hand, ambulatory care is also completely disadvantaged. The ambulatory is the medico-psychological consultation centers (CMP) which are included in the territory, which do extremely important network work.

However, some themes will not be addressed during these meetings, as mental health professionals have deplored. In a column published Saturday in The Parisian187 signatories, including 90 psychiatrists, thus regretted that the increasing use of psychic restraints and psychiatric isolation were left aside. “Tie down and isolate doubles and aggravates the psychological and social isolation of people already weakened by their mental disorders”they recalled.