A third of French people believe that the crisis is affecting their morale, with 45-59 year olds (40%), the self-employed (44%) and poor households (44%) even more likely to think so. More than half of French people are worried about their loved ones because of the crisis.
But, contrary to popular belief, suicide is on the decline, representing less than 2% of deaths. Depression, in its most severe form, is stable, around 3%. Young people are particularly affected by this psychological distress, with a peak of anxiety among 15-19 year olds. But the working population, with a rejuvenating population, and women would currently be the most exposed.
Women and men develop different mental health profiles. Women develop symptoms or pathologies, such as psychological distress, stress, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, and are twice as likely as men to have taken psychotropic drugs during the year, regardless of age (24.3% of women against 13.8% of men in the 18-75 age group).
Men are more prone to addictions than women and develop more violent behavior.
Moreover, the elderly commit suicide more than the average. Those over 85 have completed suicide rates six times higher than those aged 15-24. People who are divorced and widowed or widowed have the highest suicide death rates.
Singles and married people, on the other hand, have the lowest suicide death rates.
The study “The French and mental health” was carried out for this report in October 2009, with a sample of more than 1,000 people representative of the French population aged 15 and over.