Specialist in resilience, neuropsychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik explains how the appearance of the new coronavirus awakens each of the “archaic” fears. He also believes that we are not all equal before confinement and that the most socially and psychologically precarious will come out of it more deeply affected.
Fear of losing a loved one, of being contaminated, of finding oneself unemployed ... this coronavirus brings out all our most visceral anxieties.
BORIS CYRULNIK. Exactly. We see in particular that the fear of losing a loved one is more important than that of dying yourself. This reveals archaic fears and the usual anxiety of children who fear that their parents will die. Women seem to be a little more anxious than men. This was already seen in town consultations, in peacetime, where there are always slightly more phobic women than men.
Is it normal to fear this virus so much?
When the enemy is visible, we are afraid, but we have behavioral adaptation strategies that can reassure us: we can flee or hide. But, faced with an invisible enemy, we do not know how to react. This is why it awakens anxieties and sometimes the search for scapegoats. As we do not see the opponent, we can only imagine. And the imagined adversary is the conspiracy that would have given birth to this virus or it is another country as when Donald Trump talks about the Chinese virus.
Is fear good counselor?
It is necessary because it triggers an adaptation mechanism. We are afraid, so we are careful. And to protect yourself, you respect the confinement instructions, which increases the probability of survival. In animals, moreover, those who are not afraid are those who are eliminated first. So, we must not fight against our fears, but also not let them invade us. In a way, it is good that people are afraid as long as the public authorities give them the conduct to follow and they follow the instructions.
Why don't some people respect them?
Fifteen to twenty percent of people do not follow them scrupulously. It is both little within a population but a lot if we talk about the risks of transmission of the virus, because it is enough to maintain the epidemic. It is certainly not intentional. I would rather say that it is a denial mechanism. They say to themselves: the others are in danger, but not me. I am in good health, I do not cough, I am immortal and I will go through this epidemic without problem.
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How to tell children about it?
There are two bad solutions: the first is not to talk about it at all and the second is to talk about it too much. Above all, we must not pass on our own fears, because children are angry sponges. And if the parents are anxious, the children become anxious. The best, perhaps, is to tell them: there is a danger, but no reason to panic because we know how to protect ourselves from it.
Was there a similar feeling of fear in the aftermath of the attacks?
When an attack occurs, the enemy is named. We can give it an image, sometimes a name, an origin, patterns. The terrorist is personalized. While in the case of this virus, we do not know where it is. It is perhaps there when I meet this lady who is jogging or this delivery man who deposits a package, perhaps present in this fruit that I bought. So fear has a totally different form. In terrorism, if the police intervene, you feel protected. With the virus, we have to protect ourselves.
Among the mounting fears is that of losing your job or the economy collapsing.
It is unfortunate but, yes, some will lose their jobs, there will be ruined businesses and many small businesses will not reopen. We're all going to lose money, our savings are going to melt, our investments are going to go down. Everything that made our social certainties will be damaged. And when the French government tries to revive the economy, there will be a huge debate about what to do. Will we have to restart the machine as before or will we fight against the mechanisms that led to such a disaster so that it does not happen again? We will then have to talk about the excess consumption and the excess mobility which in a certain way led to this crisis. It is the excess consumption, in particular of meat, which pushed to make overproduction and intensive breeding which favor the propagation of pathogenic viruses. And it was the excess air travel that contributed to the worldwide distribution of the Covid-19.
Will there be a before and after a coronavirus?
I bet yes. After each epidemic, there have often been social and cultural revolutions. Two years after the black plague epidemic of 1348 which killed one in two Europeans, French society has changed. Before the epidemic, it was the Church and the aristocrats who organized everything. Afterwards, the home once again became a moral value. Before the plague, the peasants, the vast majority of the population, belonged to the lords. And when the latter sold his land, he also sold the serfs who lived on it. Two years after the epidemic which decimated the peasants, the serfdom disappeared because the peasants asked to be paid to work.
Emmanuel Macron announced the launch of the military operation "resilience". What exactly do we mean by this word?
What is happening now is practically an experimental demonstration of resilience, which is to be reborn after a shock. Currently, we are in the midst of trauma and we must increase our protective factors to protect ourselves: washing our hands, not going out, etc. But some of us are stronger and others more vulnerable to pass this course. Those who have a family, a diploma, a profession, an emotional and friendly network, the ability to maintain social ties by phone, will probably go through this crisis without leaving too many feathers. But singles, divorced people, lonely people who live in apartments of 30 m2 or those who suffer from social insecurity, speech delays, socialization disorders, psychotic disorders, will leave many feathers. When it is finished, only then will the process of resilience begin. And we will then rediscover the whole meaning of this notion of resilience: how to start a new start after the traumatic noise?
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