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With the health crisis, anxiety disorders are increasing in the general population. Interview with Dr. Michel Sinquin, psychiatrist, head of the Bon Sauveur Foundation’s extra-hospital center, who warns about the lack of resources in psychiatry.
How have you been organizing yourself since March to receive your patients?
We have largely gone through teleconsulting. The teleconsultation is easily conceived for patients we know well, or with not too serious pathologies. For the others, whom we know less, it is completely insufficient. For someone you don’t know and have on the phone for the first time, it is very difficult to bond and understand the complexity of their suffering. There are also patients for whom there is a real need for physical presence. Sometimes it’s so hard to express yourself, so if there isn’t some human warmth, you don’t talk about your suffering. And when the pathologies are severe, it is quite disastrous.
Precisely, for these people you don’t know, were there more requests in March and today?
There is a paradoxical thing: imprisonment increases suffering and anxiety, but imprisonment removes treatment for fear of the hospital. In times of acute crisis, we no longer have patients. On the other hand, in June we had a significant influx of patients. Already in normal times we have great difficulty in meeting the demand. There are already months late to answer an appointment. Psychiatry suffers a lot in France. Due to the growing demand and constant resources.
For new patients, are we talking about anxiety disorder, depression, fear of illness …?
Any acute infection is a source of anxiety disorders and depression. Requests for treatment for anxiety disorders have been on the rise, but have been for 20 years. And obviously there is an aggravation of the suffering of people with Covid.
Were you able to cope with a growing demand for advice or did you feel overwhelmed?
We have dangerously growing delays. We are completely overwhelmed, we try to refer to general practitioners, to other facilities, especially in Toulouse. But psychiatrists are lacking in all hospitals in France.
For example, are listening platforms a way to compensate for your inability to respond to everyone?
Yes, there are essential structures like SOS Amitié, with whom we work a lot and who do a great job. There are other listening cells which have been set up and which play a very interesting role.
Did this excess demand decrease after a few months?
This summer has remained very important. The reference point we have is the time frame we can give for a first meeting. And they have not decreased, the demand remains very strong. Today, for a first date, it takes up to 5 months. We have therefore set up a nursing home without an appointment in order to be able to assess situations and accommodate people who have acute disorders more quickly if necessary.
It’s enough?
The confusion of the psychiatric health system must be heard. This mess is old and has been getting worse for years. Little has been said about psychiatry and one gets the impression that psychiatry is neglected by politicians. There is nothing that has been devised to fit the current health situation.
Health Minister Olivier Véran recently spoke about it. He warned of “a consequent increase in depressive syndromes”.
Yes, but it is quite recent. There are emergency plans, nursing homes, etc., but psychiatry has been sidelined. However, it is probably a very important comorbidity of this disease.
What can we do now? Give more human resources?
It takes ten years to train a specialist, so we won’t see the effects until the end of the 2020s. There, we can train nurses quickly. We can also increase the number of psychologists in the units more easily. There is a reflection to be made to compensate for the decrease in the number of doctors and on how the hospital must evolve to compensate for this decrease.
SOS Friendship was overwhelmed by calls
As the year-end celebrations approach, the period in which SOSAmitié listeners are most in demand and in full second confinement, the association’s phone continues to ring. Nationwide, volunteers have to answer more than 8,000 calls a day. In reality, it’s only one in four calls that will find someone on the other end of the line. “We receive many calls from anxious people, who wonder about the disease, about the fear of getting it, but also about the fear of death”, reacts the director of the branch of the Tarn association. “As regards the first confinement, SOS Amitié has been associated by the Directorate General of Health with the national listening system set up by the government, in connection with the national telephone platform” COVID 19 “. Many calls come through this cell. We are not there. to answer medical questions, but to listen to people in psychological distress, burn-out “, it is further specified. Furthermore, a certain number of calls come from caregivers, who may experience this period badly, after months of intense mobilization.” real suffering among some professionals “.
To better respond to these constantly increasing requests, SOSAmitié volunteers have, for those who can, agreed to increase their hours of presence. Home listening cells have also been installed to facilitate teleworking. “But we are constantly looking for volunteers. We fear a peak in calls in the coming months, the social and psychological consequences of this crisis are not instantaneous and are likely to last over time. “
To contact SOS Amitié: (09 72 39 40 50), but also via e-mail and chat (on the website www.sos-amitie.com).
To become a listener, https://www.sos-amitie.com/devenir-ecoutant.
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