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The COVID-19 crisis has hit young people hard. More fragile than ever, more and more of them are having suicidal gestures or thoughts. According to Santé Publique France, visits to the emergency room for suicidal tendencies have increased drastically among young people since the beginning of 2022. Alarming data which worries health professionals.
Since the beginning of 2022, visits to the emergency room for a suicidal crisis have increased among young people, according to Public Health France. The passages for suicidal gestures, suicidal thoughts and mood disorders remain at high levels, comparable for 11-14 year olds and even higher for 15-17 and 18-24 year olds to those observed at the start of 2021. weak, Public Health France also highlighted an increase in passages for eating disorders among 15-17 year olds. According to Public Health Francegirls would be more affected than boys in each case.
The impact of the health crisis is definitely there
Since 2020, suicide attempts have continued to increase. Visits to the emergency room for suicidal thoughts have been on the rise since 2019. Their number was 5,210 in 2020, 9,003 in 2021, and 2,992 for the first eleven weeks of 2022.
Calls to the eight poison control centers in France for the voluntary taking of drugs or other toxic substances “are, this year, almost twice as many concerning 12-24 year olds, with around thirty-five calls per day on average, compared to around twenty in 2019, with women being more affected”according to Dominique Vodovar, doctor at the CAP of the Lariboisière hospital (Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, AP-HP) questioned by The world tuesday.
The impact of the health crisis is therefore clear. Suicidal crises – that is, suicide attempts and/or suicidal thoughts – among young people really follow the different phases of the pandemic, during which they had an extremely limited social life.
The alert is launched
Since the start of the pandemic, child and adolescent specialists have been warning about the mental health of young people. In November 2021, Defender of Rights Claire Hédon deplored the catastrophic mental state of children in a report, where she drew up a list of 29 recommendations to remedy it.
On Tuesday April 26, health professionals also decided to challenge the government in a column published by The world, in the face of the latest published data on adolescent mental health. Questioned by the daily, Richard Delorme, head of the child psychiatry department at the Robert-Debré hospital (AP-HP) was alarmed by the situation: “Suicide attempts continue to rise, with a 25% increase in January, February and March 2022, compared to the same period of 2021 […] We didn’t think it could increase any further”.
Six days earlier, actors in child psychiatry had addressed the President of the Republic in The Doctor’s Dailyon the eve of the second round of the presidential election: “Mr. Emmanuel Macron, will you be the president who will initiate Act II of the sector and network policy in mental health and child and adolescent psychiatry?”.
There is still a long way to go
Even though “Assizes of mental health and psychiatry” of September 27 and 28, 2021 have allowed the creation of several measures, such as the opening of 400 positions in infant-juvenile medical-psychological centers, there is still a lot to be done, according to youth specialists.
Since April 5, the MonPsy system has also allowed Social Security to reimburse eight sessions with the psychologist for all patients over the age of 3.
“It’s going in the right direction, but it’s only a few meters covered, when it’s about running a marathon”alerted a dozen organizations representing child and adolescent psychiatry to The Doctor’s Daily. They denounce an approach “by small touches”which “only”touch on the subject. No, the only measures in place or planned will not be sufficient at all. The negative spiral will continue to pull down what we can offer the French” in terms of mental health care, they continued.
The request of specialists? Devote 3 billion euros to the psychological care of young people, and thus double the current allocated budget which is 1.5 billion.
The President’s second five-year term has just begun, and child and adolescent professionals hope to see a rapid evolution in the management of young people’s mental health.