A 17-year-old adolescent who expresses his fear of death for himself and his loved ones. A young woman whose employer abruptly terminated the trial period upon the announcement of confinement and who “Anxiety for the future”. Others who fear a collapse of the social and economic model or who feed existential questions (“Couldn’t we have manhandled the planet a little too much?”) … Coronavirus and containment are omnipresent in the increasing number of calls received by SOS Amitié. In addition to the regulars, among whom the health crisis adds to other anxieties, the association has seen the arrival of a new population of callers, younger. All have one thing in common: “Few people do not mention the coronavirus. Everyday life also often comes back: not being able to shop in the same way as before, no longer seeing your friends, no longer having your little coffee outside in the morning … Everything that makes up everyday life is reviewed and the lack appears . We have had people whose parents live in nursing homes and who are devastated by fear, others who have lost a loved one and were unable to go to his funeral … “ identifies Jean-Jacques Pirez, president of the Paris Ile-de-France section of the association.
Read also “During this period, we must maintain ties as much as possible”
A sign, if necessary, of the psychological impact of the current health crisis: according to an Ifop survey for the Sunday Journal, published on March 23 (1), 84% of French people said they were worried about the coronavirus epidemic, an increase of 10 points in five days. To cope, the director general of health, Jérôme Salomon, announced Wednesday the opening of a psychological support cell “For French people in mental distress”, highlighting the “Need to assist the population in this very special period of confinement”. Backed up by the information number launched by the government and Public Health France (2), this hotline can, if necessary, redirect callers, for example to a platform managed by the Red Cross and medico-psychological emergency cells.
“Pressure cookers”
In Besançon (Doubs), a listening cell was also created a week ago, within the city’s teaching hospital, partly to relieve calls on the 15th linked to psychological distress. After timid beginnings, the sixty volunteers from the medico-psychological emergency unit (nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists) now receive around thirty calls a day. “These are mostly isolated people, with a history of psychological suffering or psychiatric illness. Some see suicidal thoughts reactivated or the fear of losing a loved one ”, details the Dr Thierry François, psychiatrist behind this initiative.
“We are living in an episode that we have never experienced and would never have imagined to live, so much did we live in the idea that medicine can heal and that hospitals can cope. This is without taking into account the daily litany of deaths announced and those to come. It looks like a horror movie, “ observes the essayist and psychoanalyst Claude Halmos, who continues to carry out his consultations by telephone (3). At the end of the line, his interlocutors confide the very concrete impact of the confinement that is stretching, sometimes evoking the marital or family conflicts that arise during this “Abnormal situation, which serves as an amplifier: we are like caged bears. And in addition, often, several bears in the same cage. All pressure cookers. Put it in words, that’s already it. “ “Promiscuity with those around you often comes up in calls, because you have to take care of yourself but also support yourself”, supports Jean-Jacques Pirez.
Frightened, some turn to SOS Doctors. In these consultations, there is the evocation of symptoms (proven or not), the fear of infecting loved ones, and anxiety or depressive disorders, aggravated by the situation. For Mirna Salloum, a general practitioner from Ile-de-France, on the bridge of SOS Doctors, this is only the beginning: “We are not yet in the phase where confinement becomes unbearable. But we expect the tolerance for containment to drop, “ she alerts. “The anxiety attacks have increased by almost 50%, from 400 per week to 579”, complete the Dr Pierre-Henry Juan, president of the emergency medical aid service. In the past week, anxiety has been the fifth most common diagnosis by SOS Doctors. “The suspicions of Covid-19 explode. But soon the problems of depressive syndromes, anxiety, those who can no longer go to their medico-psychological center, will no longer see their psychiatrist, will really arise, “ he anticipates, before adding: “We are obviously very attentive to acute disorders. Psychic decompensations, schizophrenia… ”
Read also To cheer up, laugh and slippers
Same observation for Dr Paul Frappé, general practitioner in Saint-Etienne (Loire) and president of the College of general medicine, who saw anxiety go up in his patients: “I think it started when we doctors started to wear masks: it made things concrete, visible”, he remembers. Confinement exploded this anxiety in the face of a “Non-palpable enemy” but very invasive, in a very large panel of patients: “Much like depression, it can happen to anyone. The fact that this situation is unprecedented, that it is not known how long it will last, and that it evolves every day, making the next day very uncertain, can increase fears “, observe this doctor, for whom this anxiety most often results in “Sleep, eating, or a feeling of paralysis, like a little bike spinning around in your head all the time and you can’t stop.”
“Inequality”
“Those who are alone can be a bit disoriented in their sleep-wake cycle”, observes Mirna Salloum, who nonetheless takes care not to load prescriptions: “If France remains a large consumer of anxiolytics, we have been trying to limit their supply for several years. There may be a rebound. But here, we limit to those who have already taken, are followed by a shrink but have no more session … Basically, we agree to renew the prescriptions if necessary, but that’s it. Talking soothes. Measuring oxygen saturation and a lung exam also calms a lot. It’s words and presence. And we also find ourselves asking more often than usual “Do you have any questions?”
Confined, freaked out, all in the same boat? Not exactly, replies Sylvain Bordiec, lecturer in sociology at the University of Bordeaux, and specialist in isolation. Certainly, “In this situation, the state has the power to modify our lifestyles and create loneliness, and thus places a responsibility on the French in the management of the crisis”, that affects us all, he explains. But “Above all, there are social inequalities in confinement, which is necessarily more expensive for some than for others. For example: the best informed, thanks to their social situations and their relationships, sometimes knew before this measure was going to be taken and they were then able to go to their country house. ” For him, without throwing the shame on them, the wealthiest are “Necessarily better armed” : “They’re used to sitting in a chair, socializing indoors, being connected. They can continue, show themselves in “conf calls”, with the library in the background that is fine. They have the resources to stay, even in these special, interesting, demonstrable circumstances … Besides, they have enough money to get their groceries delivered. ” At the other end of the spectrum, there is also a very precarious population or “Locked up at home long before confinement because elderly or disabled”, he details, and with whom the gap is likely to widen.
“Regain control”
“Of course, the material conditions play (having space or not, a garden or not) but this deprivation of the right to move, this physical constraint returns us to a feeling experienced in childhood, when we were at the mercy helpless adults “, completes the psychoanalyst Claude Halmos. The breakwaters between social life and private space having jumped, this specialist recommends trying to “Keep our benchmarks before confinement, alternating work time and privacy time”. She insists: this flood of fears “Is not neurotic”, in view of the current exceptional situation. Paul Frappé, of the College of General Medicine, calls not to “Pathologize these fears” and believes that “The first step is to allow you to express your emotions.” By calling relatives or consulting, for lack of other resources or if the wave is too strong. “We are trying to help these people regain control over what they are going through, to support them to win in their way of being informed too. The idea, of course, is not to escape what’s going on, but to set a frame, so that you don’t necessarily have your nose on social networks all the time, for example. “ According to the latest recommendations of the scientific council, the confinement could be caused to last at least six weeks in France. It has already been extended once. A marathon, but not always with a balcony.
(1) Survey conducted online from March 19 to 20 on a sample of 1,013 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over.
(2) 0 800 130 000, toll free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
(3) She also devotes her weekly Saturday column It’s in my head, on France Info, at containment.
,
– .
