After an earthquake, specialists are still worried regarding future followingshocks, which might cause a tsunami. In the case of the epidemic, following the successive confinements that have weakened the mental health of students, psychiatrists and psychologists see the emergence of these young people a new wave of anxiety and depressive disorders, increasingly difficult to contain.
“Across the country, we are starting to relive the saturation of requests for psychological consultations that we experienced in October 2020”, observes Laurent Gerbaud, President of the Association of Directors of University Health Services (SSU) and Director of the Student Disability Health Center at Clermont-Auvergne University. “We are full, full, full”, loose Christophe Ferveur, psychologist from the French Student Health Foundation in Paris. “The demands are exceptionally high for the period – between 30% and 50% more than usual, deplores the professor of epidemiology Christophe Tzourio, director of the student health area at the University of Bordeaux. And that’s just the tiny tip of the iceberg: those who know our services exist and who have the ability to make that complicated gesture of asking for help. “
According to the latest Observatory of Student Life survey published in November, in which nearly 5,000 students participated, four categories appear particularly fragile: people in financial difficulty (65% show signs of psychological distress), foreigners (53%), those aged 26 and over (53%) and women (48%). These weaknesses, however, translate into low recourse to specific structures (in 14% of cases) and / or to health professionals (for 24% of students). Only 4% of all students went to SSUs and university psychological support offices (BAPUs) in the twelve months preceding the survey. The “psy check”, set up in February, which gives the right to eight sessions with a liberal psychologist without advance of costs, was used by 2% of those questioned.
“Massive, collective stress”
Unlike an earthquake, the health crisis does not yet have an end date, hence the impression of a scenario that repeats itself and never allows the necessary reconstruction to begin. “In students, there is a cumulative effect and a delay effect, analyzes the psychiatrist Frédéric Atger, head of the BAPU of 5e district of Paris. Their disorders are more severe, so are the dropping out situations. ”
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