When he mentioned, on January 13 at the Elysee Palace, the tragic fate of Rudy Noël, a Vosges bistro who had committed suicide the day before, the President of the Republic hinted that it was not a question of a isolated drama.
“There have been many since the start of the crisis, that is to say that we have many of your colleagues who, living in despair, both financial loss but the loss of meaning and of lives who are jostled, are cornered at the worst, ”described Emmanuel Macron, addressing representatives of the catering trade during the traditional galette des rois.
After interviewing many departmental branches of the Umih (Union of hotel trades and industries) and specialists in the issue, we have not identified other emblematic cases of suicides having a direct link with the Covid. -19 coffee makers and restaurateurs.
In November, a restaurant owner from Morbihan put an end to her life but her family had specified that there was no proof of a direct link with the health restrictions and the closure of her establishment in her gesture.
High risk of acting out
On the other hand, the experts are unanimous on one point: the danger of taking action is currently very high among catering professionals but also, more generally, traders and business leaders.
More risky categories.
Because according to an Ifop survey for the Jean-Jaurès Foundation entitled “Suicide: the other wave of the coronavirus?
», 25% of artisans-traders and 27% of business leaders surveyed at the end of September affirmed having already seriously considered during their life to commit suicide, higher intention rates than that of the general population (20% ).
“The main cause of the violent deaths of traders is the suicide of small entrepreneurs.
What our survey shows us is that in the future these categories of the population could have a suicidal practice which is similar to the situation already experienced by farmers, a category darkly affected by this scourge in France ”, s' alarms the report of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation.
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According to this think tank close to the Socialist Party, the worst is yet to come.
“All the studies show that the suicidal effects of seizures are felt within months or even years.
Thus, for that of 1929, it is from the years 1930-1931 that we could observe the highest peak and for that of 2008, it is in 2009 and 2010 ”, recall the authors of this study.
What is certain to this day is that depressions are on the increase among restaurateurs, traders and small employers.
"The more time passes without opening our establishments, the more it risks exploding," warns Michel Bedu, president of the Umih of Meurthe-et-Moselle.
During the first confinement, Vincent, hotelier-restaurateur in Brittany, crushed a lot of black.
“I had to take medication.
I no longer slept all night, I vomited every morning because of the stress, I went around in circles and I became aggressive, ”he testifies.
"There is no shame in getting help"
To the Apesa France association (Psychological assistance for entrepreneurs in acute suffering), which manages the listening and psychological support unit intended for employers in distress (Toll-free number: 0.805.65.50.50.), The number of cases charge has jumped in these times of recession, from 673 in 2019 to 1,107 in 2020. “Some people have dark thoughts.
A business manager told us:
I avoid taking a road on which there are plane trees
”, confides Marc Binnié, president of Apesa France who thinks that“ the hardest part is ahead of us ”.
“Some bosses have the impression of no longer having any social role, of being cut off from a large part of their entrepreneurial identity, sitting on their sofa watching series.
They can no longer project themselves, stuck in the present ”, analyzes the one who is also clerk of the commercial court of Saintes (Charente-Maritime).
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At the time of deconfinement last May, Gilles, in his thirties at the head of a masonry company in the Center region, “cracked”.
“As a boss, we must not show that we are failing.
But by dint of suffering the morale at the lowest of our workers, of also having their ears pulled by the customers, I ended up going wild.
I completely exploded.
The cup of coffee went through my office!
I was ready to screw everything upside down, ”he recalls.
The Apesa device then enabled him to come into contact with a shrink and raise his head.
"I did not experience this as a weakness, there is no shame in getting help ..."
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VIDEO. Restaurants closed: "I can still last a month and a half, no more"
