We knew a part of the French anxious about the prospect of deconfinement, the return of a certain effervescence and the opacity of its horizon lines. But what about the level of stress in the country more generally since the start of confinement? Data from several organizations such as Santé Publique France, health insurance, or statistics from the CovidEcoute line, attest to very palpable anxieties since this famous March 17, especially among women under 50 years.
Some French people anticipated this anxious state from the start of confinement. Evidenced by the increases in sales of certain drugs, including anxiolytics, antipsychotics and antidepressants around mid-March, as revealed in a report Ameli, the site of health insurance, which was based on reimbursement data medication.
Thus, the week of March 16, the official start of national quarantine, the number of purchasers of antidepressants increased by 20% compared to the “normal” during this period, or 182,000 people. There are also 150,000 more buyers of anxiolytics.
The following week, 50,000 people "more than expected" also purchased antipsychotics. Patients whom Ameli describes as "probably particularly fragile with the psychological consequences of confinement". These figures then stabilized in the following weeks. Future data should confirm this trend.
We can also imagine a significant part of the resumption of smoking among the French who had decided to quit. According to Ameli, between the end of March and mid-April, the purchase of nicotine patches dropped by 20 to 30%.
An anxiety rate doubled between 2017 and 2020
A study on the mental health of French people during the first two weeks of confinement, the results of which were published this Thursday by Santé publique France, also confirms the existence of this strong anxiety. On March 23, the anxiety rate observed among the 2,000 participants was 26.7%, compared to 13.5% three years earlier. This prevalence of anxiety, however, decreased during the week of March 30, reaching 21.5%. By way of comparison, a study carried out in February among 50,000 Chinese people attested to a state of psychological distress in a third of the respondents.
In France, the most anxious people at the start of this confinement were mainly women (whose anxieties are already greater than those of men in normal times): 31.6%, against 21.3% of men the first week, 26% against 16.6% the second. Mostly under the age of 50. People in precarious situations, teleworking, parents of children under the age of 16, those who have a loved one with symptoms of Covid-19, are also those who have the greatest anxieties.
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Among these factors of anxiety, Public Health France also points to the lack of knowledge on the modes of transmission of the virus, a feeling of vulnerability and the perception of the gravity of Covid-19, the lack of confidence in the public authorities to stem the epidemic, as well as the feeling that the sanitary measures recommended are difficult to adopt. Conversely, those claiming to vigorously respect containment measures expressed less concern.
A "protective effect of containment" in some
The organization also puts forward the hypothesis in a majority of French people of a “protective effect” over the days: “by effectively reducing the risk of exposure to the virus, confinement has undoubtedly contributed to the drop in the level of general anxiety ”.
These results "highlight the need to protect and support the most precarious households", he notes, however, worrying about populations "living in more stressful confinement conditions (promiscuity, difficult financial situation)" .
The CovidEcoute line, set up on April 15 to help those who suffer the most from this period, also provides some interesting data, making it possible to materialize these anxieties among the most affected French people. First, the more than 4,000 people who completed a questionnaire on the site assess their stress level at 7.2 on average, on a scale of ten. With a level of discomfort of 7, exhaustion of 6.5, anger of 5.7. Of the more than 700 teleconsultations carried out, with an average duration of 45 minutes, a large majority of the callers are women (70%), with an average age of 39 years. 65% of people had never consulted a psychiatrist or psychologist and, conversely, 20% were already on psychotropic treatment.
The sadness of being away from their own that pushed 43% of people to contact CovidEcoute. They are the same proportion to indicate that they can no longer endure confinement and just as much to reveal the worsening of pre-existing suffering during the epidemic. In addition, almost 10% report having ever had suicidal thoughts.
Fear of lasting unrest
A third of callers also mentioned sleep problems, a quarter reported fear of contracting the virus and 20% reported having suffered from overwork, exhaustion or difficulties in managing their daily life. "These first feedbacks underscore the urgency of providing appropriate responses so that no one is left without a therapeutic solution," stresses in this report Marion Leboyer, director of the FondaMental Foundation, who is behind this hotline.
She argues that "deconfinement is also a source of concern, whether it is the fear of contracting the virus or concerns related to the professional future". For its part, Public Health France anticipates "a possible upward trend in anxiety states after confinement".
The consequences of this epidemic could also be seen more in the long term. In the journal The Lancet, at the end of February, researchers highlighted the lasting impact of previous quarantines on mental health. These epidemics could, in addition to permanent anxiety, cause in some cases symptoms of post-traumatic stress and persistent depressive disorders.