Michel Barnier announced it on Sunday evening. He wants mental health to become the government’s major national cause in 2025. This news does not surprise professionals in the sector, who have been sounding the alarm for years, particularly since the Covid-19 crisis. The figures continue to worsen. Thirteen million French people suffer from mental and psychiatric disorders and 42% of young people aged 18 to 24 suffer from moderate to severe depression according to a study carried out by the University of Bordeaux in March.
While Gabriel Attal had already stated that he wanted to make youth mental health his priority, the National Refoundation Council devoted to the subject, scheduled for this summer, was cancelled after the dissolution of the National Assembly. “Making it a major national cause will only be positive if it is followed up,” says Marie-José Cortès, president of the Union of Hospital Psychiatrists (SPH). “We don’t want yet another conference on mental health that serves no purpose, but a retrospective planning with clear objectives. Practical-practical.”
Destigmatizing mental health disorders
So let’s talk practical. The “major national cause” label allows associations or collectives to benefit from free campaigns on television and radio. “This visibility can help patients feel less alone,” says Charles-Edouard Notredame, child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Lille University Hospital and lecturer at the University of Lille.
Whether they are affected by schizophrenia, depression or anorexia, the sick remain stigmatized. The president of the SPH, however, tempers this: “the campaigns work well but only for the duration of the campaign.”
Preventing, especially at school
With this spotlight, professionals in the sector are also expecting resources. “We must invest in prevention, for example by providing psychological health education in schools,” suggests Antoine Pelissolo, psychiatrist, head of the psychiatry department at Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil.
And making mental health a major national cause could also help recruit. “42% of hospital psychiatrist positions are vacant and many beds are closing in psychiatric units,” recalls Antoine Pelissolo. As a result, people in great psychological distress find themselves stuck in emergency rooms, or even asked to go home due to lack of space. “Consultation times in all public facilities are several months and even in private practice, most psychiatrists have long waiting lists, or even no longer take on new patients,” continues the doctor.
“In hospitals, psychiatric discipline is not considered the most important, but if we say that it is now a national priority, we will have less difficulty recruiting a nurse when we need one, for example,” illustrates the head of department.
Recruiting caregivers
But for the doctors interviewed, recruiting is not so much a question of means as of attractiveness. “We received a budget to recruit in our center but it took me a long time to find staff,” says Fayçal Mouaffak, head of a sector psychiatry center in Seine-Saint-Denis. And it’s easy to explain: a night on call at the hospital is paid 200 to 250 euros, an amount that most private psychiatrists earn in two consultations.”
According to them, the visibility of mental health issues could help put an end to this vicious circle (the lack of funding gives rise to degraded working conditions, making the sector unattractive, contributing to its degradation). “We must promote the professions of psychiatry and particularly child psychiatry”, insists Charles-Edouard Notredame, believing however that we must not be “miserabilist”. For the doctor, the national cause will also make it possible to highlight “innovative and pioneering” systems, such as first aid training in mental health or the VigilenS system for monitoring suicidal people.
Training general practitioners and emergency physicians
To address this crisis, Fayçal Mouaffak believes that the issue of mental health must be tackled head on by other doctors. “General practitioners and emergency physicians should be trained in psychiatric pathologies to be able to respond to the less serious disorders because there will never be enough psychiatrists to meet all the demands.”
The doctor wants to remain optimistic. “I tell myself that we will manage to make progress, but I hope it will be quick, because we no longer have time.” An emergency that risks colliding with another urgent problem for the government: that of the public debt.
