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Suddenly seeing an individual start licking the ground in front of you, in a public place, is the misadventure recounted by more and more Parisians. An anecdotal (and disgusting) act? Or proof that there is no longer enough treatment for psychological disorders in the capital?
After the “rubbers” (of the metro), the “lickers”? For several days, press articles, videos on the networks and even a police press release have reported a new problem in the Parisian capital: a probably “disturbed” individual would enter businesses to start licking the floor in front of a disconcerted audience (which we can understand) and this for several months.
Psychiatric situations which are increasing in Paris?
If the situation can make you smile (and it is not a priori dangerous), it nevertheless raises questions. Obviously, the man involved is not taking up a challenge, but he is responding to an impulse, which has something to do with a psychiatric disorder. According to The Parisian, the increase in calls from traders to the police in the face of this uncontrollable licker even caused congestion on the 17 telephone line for several days. In recent weeks, officers have also been called for human excrement on public transport, or for a naked man at Gare de Lyon, who threw his own excrement at passers-by.
“We have recently encountered an increase in people with psychiatric disorders who have had to be taken care of”said Loïc Dessertenne, management manager for the Alliance 75 police union, speaking to BFMTV on May 9.
An increase in cases that Antoine Pelissolo, head of the psychiatry department at Henri Mondor hospital, attributes to a lack of resources and the closure of numerous beds, always on the same chain.
Cases which remain (fortunately) rare and isolated
However, despite the certain sensational side of these videos, on the emergency side, we do not panic. According to the information collected by Doctissimo, there are no more cases of psychological disorders presented to emergency departments, and no wave of “serial lickers” or naked people are sweeping the capital. According to an emergency psychiatrist, this in no way represents an epidemic, but only rare isolated cases.
As for the causes, which encourage this gentleman to personally taste the floors of the different businesses, they can be of 4 orders according to the professionals:
- Perversion (with aggressive enjoyment towards the other);
- Autistic behavior (without aggression);
- A phase of delirium (in the case of psychosis or drug use);
- Madness.
Nothing that really makes you laugh, ultimately. However, we hope that this discipline will have disappeared from the Parisian streets when the Olympics take place in July!
Slide: These ten signs that allow you to recognize a psychopath