France underestimates the psychiatric illnessesand does not take the necessary measures to prevent these mental disorders, according to the results of a study initiated by the FondaMental Foundation (a scientific cooperation network in mental health) and the Institut Montaigne (a laboratory of ideas).
Mental illnesses affect 1 in 5 people and they will be the leading cause of disability worldwide by 2020, according to the World Health Organization. However, France remains far behind in terms of the prevention of psychiatric illnesses, particularly the most serious: schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, depression and autism spectrum disorders.
Ineffective support
As fears and received ideas persist on these diseasespatients who are often discriminated against are slow to consult, to be diagnosed and to be taken care of by a specialist.
“The management of psychiatric illnesses is often very late, whereas the first five years of the illness are a critical phase during which the responses to treatment are the best and the chances of remission are greatest” explains Marion Leboyer, Director of the FondaMental Foundation.
Mental illnesses are very expensive in France
“In France, the costs attributable to mental illness are estimated at 109 billion euros annually (ie more than 5% of GDP)” says Marion Leboyer. But as their economic and social repercussions are significant (precariousness, exclusion, risky behavior, addictions), there is an informal cost estimated by the Mental Health Information Weeks (SISM) at 65.1 billion for the loss of quality of life and 24.4 billion euros for lost productivity. However, the public authorities are not mobilizing to change this situation.
An unsuitable budget
In France, only 2% of the budget for biomedical research is devoted (i.e. approximately 21 million euros) to research in psychiatry, compared to 7% in Great Britain (131 million euros) and 11% in the United States ( €5.2 billion). Yet prevention is possible, effective and profitable.
“For ethical, medical and financial reasons, there is an urgent need to support innovations and improve the management of these pathologies. The mental illnesses are not inevitable. Prevention must be the common thread of any ambitious public health policy in psychiatry, as it is for cancer or cardiovascular diseases!
The research effort in psychiatry must now be supported to match the challenges that remain to be met, and as evidenced by the study co-signed with the Institut Montaigne, there are many of them” concludes Marion Leboyer.
