Who has never heard or held this speech? “Don’t forget that you have a huge chance to live in a peaceful country. Your great-grandparents knew the war and had to face much more terrible situations.” This is what Emilie, a Parisian forty-something, used to retort to her children in the event of small worries, or even bigger problems. At least until now.
Like everyone else, this mother of a family today watches with horror the images of the bombings that kill hundreds of civilians just 2,000 kilometers from our home. “It’s terrible! We necessarily identify with these people who are going through the ultimate ordeal of losing their loved ones, their homes, all their bearings. For the first time in my life, I tell myself that it could happen to us too. And I feel guilty for feeling so helpless”, she continues, acknowledging the chopped nights for the past fortnight. Emilie is far from alone. According to a survey conducted at the end of February by the Ipsos institute to The world, The Jean-Jaurès Foundation and Sciences Po, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine worries 90% of French people (among them, 43% even said they were “very worried”). At the top of the concerns, the economic consequences of the war, a possible extension of the conflict beyond Ukraine and a possible nuclear attack.
Most doctors and specialists make the same observation: the war in Ukraine is likely to seriously affect the morale, even the mental health of the French, in the weeks and months to come. “I already see it during my consultations. At the moment, the vast majority of my patients only talk to me about that,” says psychiatrist Serge Hefez from his office at the Pitié Salpêtrière hospital in Paris.
Accentuated “stun effect”
The shock is all the more severe as the general public did not expect such a sudden Russian offensive in Ukraine and such tragic consequences. “The succession of traumas, which are added to each other, further accentuates the current effect of amazement”, continues Serge Hefez. In tune with the psychologist Evelyne Josse for whom our life “begins to resemble a triathlon”. The attacks of 2015 and the terrorist threat, the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, the effects of which we are still suffering, and now the threat that war poses to Europe… “These endurance tests follow each other without the necessary respite that we would need to replenish our psychic resources”, continues the specialist, also a lecturer at the University of Lorraine.
Many of his colleagues also mention a risk of aggravation of neuroses, depression, anxiety disorders, lack of self-confidence and in the future. Who are the people most at risk? For the psychiatrist Patrice Huerre (1), individuals could be divided into three concentric circles. He first evokes a central core, made up of a very stable percentage of people with proven psychiatric illnesses. “Environmental factors do not have much influence on them. Their pathologies are generated by other factors that we know more or less well,” he explains.
The doctor says he is more worried about the second circle: that of personalities who are not sick but more fragile and more easily prey to moments of doubt and intense sadness. “In crisis situations like this, it is this category that is bound to increase”, continues Patrice Huerre. The third circle, majority according to him, brings together people, certainly affected by this terrible news, but who benefit from the internal resources necessary to bounce back.
Images and buried trauma
The reasons why the conflict in Ukraine affects us so much are obviously very diverse. The geographical and cultural proximity with this population inevitably generates a phenomenon of identification. “The attacks on civilians, the destruction of hospitals or schools, the bombardments of sanitary corridors remind us of the 1939-1945 war and Hitler’s barbarism”, explains psychiatrist Dominique Barbier. The images that pass before our eyes can awaken trauma in those who have experienced armed conflict or who have worked in war contexts, such as soldiers or humanitarian workers. “Even those who have not known, themselves, a war experience can be affected”, warns Nicole Prieur (2), philosopher and family therapist.
We know that certain traumas, such as the tragedy of the Shoah, are transmitted unconsciously in certain families. Old concerns, more or less repressed, can then be reactivated.” The current feeling of powerlessness is reinforced by the fact that some of our beliefs are now undermined. “We thought we would never experience war in Europe again. , confident in the ability of our diplomatic forces to resolve conflicts. Faced with the difficulties they face, our internal defense mechanisms are severely tested,” continues Nicole Prieur.
For Dominique Barbier, the personality of Vladimir Poutine, who knows perfectly how to handle fears by blowing hot and cold, heightens this feeling of injustice and dread. “Western Europe, that of the Enlightenment, of Voltaire, of Rousseau, of Diderot, is the cradle of humanism, he recalls. Seeing an oppressed people, attacked by someone who looks like a titan bloodthirsty and barbaric, let us repeat, is obviously a spectacle as cruel as it is unbearable.”
The impression that “the future is petrified”
The reversals of the Russian president who, after having authorized the establishment of humanitarian corridors, imposed as a condition on civilians to join Russia or Belarus, has further increased the ambient disarray. Finally, again according to the recent Ipsos poll, 35% of French people say they are very worried about the threat of a possible nuclear conflict. “As a worthy pervert, Putin plays with our nerves by bringing out our ancestral fears such as that of the apocalypse. This type of fantasy can only increase anxiety disorders, depression, the aggravation of known mental illnesses or the state of patients already hospitalized,” said Dominique Barbier.
Specialists also pay close attention to the young adults, already strongly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. “The second and third generations after the Second World War experienced a total reversal of values compared to their elders, explains Serge Hefez. Fed to personal fulfillment, well-being, progress, triumphant health , they don’t have the software that would allow them to integrate what’s going on.”
Here they are brutally confronted, in the space of a few years, with the millennial anxieties of epidemics, religious crusades, world conflicts, the end of the world. “This war in Ukraine can only increase the weight of their suffering and thicken the fog that seems to steal their future away from them. It is to be feared that they will feel that the future is petrified, that the future is teeming with dangers and that it only reserves bad surprises for them”, explains Evelyne Josse. The specialist would not be surprised if hospitalizations in psychiatric units for adolescents are on the rise again: “We can also expect an increase in alcohol consumption and addictions to the Internet and social networks.”
Asked about the means of coping with this ambient climate, the specialists all advise against watching the continuous news channels in a loop. “We must avoid television images of war whose emotional power can be deleterious”, insists Evelyne Josse. Another important recommendation: above all, do not evade the children’s questions. “It is important to discuss the facts with them, obviously adapting the information given to each age. But parents must also say what they feel, themselves, as adults. not misinterpret their emotional manifestations”, confirms Patrice Huerre. Everyone insists on the need to get out of a possible obsessive and negative spiral: you have to continue reading, listening to music, watching films, inviting friends over, going on hikes. In short, to enjoy the pleasures of life.
(1) Author of How the school is moving away from its children. The alert of a child psychiatrist (Nathan, 2022)
(2) Author of The necessary betrayals. Allow yourself to be yourself (Robert Laffont, 2021)