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Bastien is completing a master’s degree in journalism this year, “the job of his dreams”. But he says he is “deeply unhappy” and admits having “cracked” psychologically in the fall, like thousands of other students in a situation of ill-being.
“For the first time in my life, I went to see a doctor to quit for a week“, tells AFP this student in the second year of a master’s degree at the Institute of Journalism of Bordeaux Aquitaine (IJBA). “I don’t know if you can say it was a burnout, but I gave in. The doctor told me to go see a shrink.”
In the health space attached to the University of Bordeaux, the number of sessions financed by “psy checks” doubled between 2021 and 2022, going from 2,440 to 4,800, according to Kévin Dagneau, head of student life and director of cabinet. Of the president.
“We have students completely burn-out (…) Consultations for problems of depression or anxiety have exploded“.
This fragility is not new, but here as elsewhere, it has been highlighted by the health crisis and the situations of isolation it has generated.
“Before the Covid, we wondered about the physical health of students. With the pandemic, we realized that they could also suffer mentally“, continues Mr. Dagneau.
Christophe Tzourio, epidemiologist at the University of Bordeaux, has been coordinating a study, “I-Share”, on the mental health of thousands of students for ten years. During the pandemic, this researcher and his team compared 1,500 of them to 2,500 other young adults.
“From the first confinement, students developed more mental illnesses than non-students. On the second, 54% were depressed, compared to 27% of other young people”, underlines the scientist who launched a new comparative study. The results are not yet available but “it is certain that it is not better“, says Mr. Tzourio.
“I’m gambling my life”
At the IJBA, Bastien Marie, 22, is completing a five-year course of study. On a scholarship, he cannot afford to remain unemployed when he leaves school in a few months: “My parents can’t afford to support me afterwards.“.
It weighs heavily on his young shoulders. “I play my life. There, it’s the match point, the final (…) My daily life can be summed up in one thing: Work hard, give everything you have, sacrifice everything to have a chance of working all year next”.
“We do not realize that there is an accumulation of mental pressure on the younger generations“, believes Professor Tzourio. “These young people suffer from it much more than the older generations. Some think they are whiners, that’s not true“.
On social networks, discussions between students bear witness to their anguish and stress; many say “look for a shrink” and ask to be recommended by practitioners. “In art, we are so anxious that we burn out“, testifies a student on a platform. “During my internship, I was arrested for two weeks on the advice of my shrink, I was on the verge of burn-out“says a law student.
FIRST AID
Launched in 2020 in four universities, mental health first aid training (PSSM) has since been extended to many establishments: in 2022, 968 students were trained in the New Aquitaine region alone, according to Florence Touchard, nurse at the University of Bordeaux and trainer.
“Ill-being is greater than before the pandemic”, with in particular “depressive disorders, anxiety“; consequence of their periods of isolation,”students find it more difficult to reach out to others, they are more quickly exhausted“, she observes.
Éléonore Pinto, 23, a graduate student in ergonomics, was trained in PSSM at the University of Bordeaux.
“In my personal life, I was able to use certain keys given by the training to help an 18-year-old young person who was going through a difficult crisis.“, says the one for whom the Covid”had at least the good effect of breaking a taboo: before, young people stayed in their corner to go wrong. Today they talk about it“.