He will draw a line over fifteen years in the hospital.
To his great regret, Mathieu Bellahsen will return his blouse on Friday.
"Today, it is no longer possible to be a whistleblower, the reprisals are immediate," laments this loudmouth psychiatrist, former head of the pole at the Asnières (Hauts-de-Seine) unit of Roger-Prévot-de-Moisselles hospital.
While the foundation of mental health opens this Monday, several caregivers tell us how, by denouncing abuses such as isolation and restraint, they find themselves "harassed", "placarded", "laid off" by their direction.
Moreover, the debate on these practices, “in inflation” for thirty years, will not be approached during these two days.
An omission denounced by 187 signatories including 90 psychiatrists, in a forum that we publish.
Locked rooms
For Doctor Bellahsen, the trouble began after the night of May 7 to 8, 2020. In his department, two patients who tested positive were transferred to the Covid unit, forcing the others, in contact cases, to confine themselves. But, in the evening, a psychiatrist on duty and the management decide to lock their rooms. Upon hearing this, Mathieu Bellahsen sees red: “Instead of telling them to isolate themselves well and to respect barrier gestures, they treated them like second-class citizens, by blocking the locks, according to an old prejudice of irresponsibility of the mentally ill. "
The head of the pole immediately warns the general controller of places of deprivation of liberty, an independent authority. This is not the first time that he has criticized management for “his methods”: in the Covid unit, patients are “cloistered”, he says, for fourteen days. This is what the controller, Adeline Hazan, observes on site, who discovers patients "locked up 24 hours a day without their clinical psychiatric condition justifying it". Its edifying report reveals "an absolute confusion between the concepts of
sanitary confinement
and
psychiatric isolation
".
The days go by in paper pajamas, in rooms without a shower, TV or notion of time.
At the same time, in another locked unit, a woman breaks her window in despair and falls two floors.
But here it is, a few days later, the management receives a letter from the nursing team, alerting to long-standing difficulties with the medical supervision, targeting in particular Mathieu Bellahsen.
"Internal malfunctions"
“The question of harassment, abuse of power and mistreatment arises,” write the caregivers.
According to the management, which we contacted, "new alerts from professionals and trade unions, after investigation, confirmed the internal dysfunctions".
"Faced with this blocking situation", the head of the pole is then dismissed.
"There is no link between the report made by Doctor Bellahsen and the opening of the administrative investigation", defends the establishment.
The doctor, claiming to be the victim of a "smear campaign", lodged a complaint for "moral harassment" and "slanderous denunciation".
His lawyer, Jean-Marc Panfili, tackles "an investigation against him".
Two senators even protested against "shocking disciplinary sanctions" in a letter addressed to the Minister of Health.
Like the psychiatrist, Mathieu was sidelined in May 2020. “When my management learned that I was part of a group of caregivers who was trying to bring a contradictory word on psychiatry, I was ultimately not tenured, this former psychomotor therapist working in a hospital in Haute-Savoie.
Neither does my occupational therapist colleague.
A manager has been transferred.
"
"Unintentional abuse"
Time and time again, he alerted his superiors to just-in-time working conditions, the lack of arms which resulted in "involuntary mistreatment": men in pajamas from morning to night, another obsessed with World War II, to whom we answer: "Stop pissing us off about this."
"" I remember a gentleman who was left for hours in his urine.
Today, he filed an appeal "for unfair dismissal" before the administrative court.
For having criticized the lack of humanity, Christophe, a nursing assistant in a psychiatric hospital in the Paris region, was struck off the schedule for "therapeutic distance" four months ago, after twelve years of service.
“I have been criticized for being too close to the sick, not enough in the care.
Another reason gives him: it had become cumbersome.
“I questioned the rules: autistic people put in an isolation room at the slightest crisis, other patients threatened to go there if they did not calm down.
Just like the end of the activities.
Due to lack of budget, the entertainment schedule was emptied.
“They stayed in the hospital doing nothing with a TV for 30 residents.
Some inmates admitted to the service even asked to go back to prison because there were walks there.
He will not have won his case.
And keep a bitter taste.
“Omerta in psychiatry is such that to denounce is to face a wall.
"
TRIBUNE.
Isolation and restraint: "the shame of psychiatry"
The conference on mental health and psychiatry will be held on September 27 and 28 without certain major themes being addressed.
Shame in psychiatry is the inflation of physical restraints (the equivalent of the straitjackets of yesteryear) and psychiatric isolation.
This shame is that of professionals who attach and lock up, for lack of anything better.
This shame is that of users and their families who live in unworthy and traumatic situations.
Tying up and isolating redoubles and worsens the psychological and social isolation of people already weakened by their mental disorders.
The inflation of restraints was gradually made as material, physical and human resources dwindled.
The Comptroller General of places of deprivation of liberty reminds us of this over and over again.
This inflation was also made possible by a de-training of professionals in psychiatry who, rather than relieving great anxieties with words and connection in addition to chemical treatments, relied on standardized and dehumanized procedures such as are currently used in hospitals.
In June 2020, the Constitutional Council asked the government to review for the first time the control of restraint and isolation prescriptions in order to comply with the law. Any restraint and isolation requiring the intervention of the judge of freedoms. The Minister of Health passed this bill reforming the control of isolation and restraint in the law on the financing of social security in 2020 ... Which has little to do with the theme, the one that every citizen can be tied to a force bed more and more often in emergencies, nursing homes and psychiatry!
In spring 2021, for the second time, the Constitutional Council declared unconstitutional the law enacted by the government six months earlier! And for the second time, no national debate about what tie up and lock up means in our country. In practice, it is evident that forcibly attaching someone to a bed is never therapeutic. It is not and it will never be a treatment, at best it is a measure of prevention of a physical attack on the integrity of a person. Locking someone in a room is not a care in itself either, it is what can allow care to start when people are too ill to bear contact with themselves and with others. Locking in can be the start of what will allow care, if the human relationship is the organizer of care.Family associations such as the psy common thread are calling for the abolition of restraint. Certain countries like Iceland have already done so. Without large-scale political will and without an obligation of means for psychiatric hospitals aimed at curbing this deleterious phenomenon, the straps and doors will continue to tighten and close on our fellow citizens. A national debate is urgently needed on the issue.A national debate is urgently needed on the issue.A national debate is urgently needed on the issue.
The petitioners
Dr Mathieu Bellahsen, psychiatrist; Dr Georges Yoram Federmann, psychiatrist; Martine Houlier mother of schizophrenic patient; Jean-Philippe PERNET, Nurse; Laurence Bloch, mother of a young adult with autism, hotel manager; Dr Mathilde Hamonet, intern in psychiatry; Yves Gigou, nurse and author; Malia Klein, clinical psychologist; Clément Vaissié, medical student, former psychiatric nurse; Dr Anne Enot, child psychiatrist; Dr Patrick Chemla, psychiatrist; Signatory association: the Psy guideline of users and caregivers; Dr Valérie Houot, psychiatrist; Dr Jean Paul; Thistle, psychiatrist; Frédéric Pierru, sociologist; Dr Elisabeth Lisack, child psychiatrist; Dr Tristan Garcia Fons, child psychiatrist; Dr Loriane Bellahsen, psychiatrist; Dr Parviz Denis, psychiatrist; Dr Pascale Rosenberg Psychiatrist; Dr Guy Dana, Psychiatrist;Dr Martin Pavelka, child psychiatrist; Linda De Zitter, clinical psychologist; Cécile Neffati, psychologist; Dr Yoann Loisel, psychiatrist; Benjamin Royer, clinical psychologist; Dr Anne Enot, child psychiatrist; Céline Matthieussent, clinical psychologist; Dr Franck Drogoul, psychiatrist; Dr Hervé Bokobza, psychiatrist; Dr Virginie Cruveiller, child psychiatrist; Clélia Gasquet, lecturer in health geography; Dr Christian Sueur, addictologist psychiatrist; Céline Masson, psychoanalyst, university professor; Dr Martine Garrigou, psychiatrist; Thérèse Petitpierre, psychologist; Dr Veronique Egal, psychiatrist; Annie Topalov, clinical psychologist; Christian Topalov, sociologist; Marie Pascale Chevance Bertin, psychoanalyst; Dr Olivier Labergère, psychiatrist; Frédéric Mougeot, sociologist; Dr Olivier Boitard, psychiatrist;Dr Pierre Zanger, Psychiatrist; Dr Maud Mainfroy, psychiatrist; Dr Pierre Paresys psychiatrist; Dr Catherine Nourry retired psychiatrist; Dr Jean-Loup Lebreton, psychiatrist; Dr Eliane Calvet, psychiatrist; Marie-Jean Sauret, professor emeritus of clinical psychopathology; Dr Jean-Pierre Bouleau, psychiatrist; Dr Jean-Michel Delaroche, psychiatrist; Claire Ballongue, psychologist; Aurore Gribos, psychologist; Baptiste Garreau, clinical psychologist; André Bitton, retired, president of an association of (ex-) users of psychiatry; Dr Marie Allione, psychiatrist; Didier Donstetter, clinical psychologist psychotherapist; Bénédicte Louvet, intern in psychiatry; Jenna Madarbaccus, psychologist; Dr Philippe Gasser, psychiatrist; Michel Bruno, clinical psychologist; Prof. Pierre Delion, child psychiatrist, professor emeritus; Dr Pascal Boissel,psychiatrist; Dr Djamila Mebtouche, psychiatrist; Dr Michele Zann, psychiatrist; Dr Pedro Serra, psychiatrist; Laure Thiérion, clinical psychologist; Marie-Noëlle Godet, clinical psychologist; Dr Anne Groussin, psychiatrist; Dr Benoit Blanchard, child psychiatrist; Dr Catherine Laval, child psychiatrist; Jérôme Costes, psychiatric nurse; Dr Sandrine Deloche, child psychiatrist; Dr Laurent Delhommeau, child psychiatrist; Dr Anne Kummer, psychiatrist; Adeline Antier Specialized educator, head of educational service; Virginie Périlhou, psychiatric nurse; Patrick Estrade, psychiatric nurse; Florence Hourquebie, Nurse; Dr Paul Machto, psychiatrist; Maximilien Valente, psychiatry intern; Marguerite Compagnat, psychologist; Dimitri Talbot, health executive; Dr Michel Montes, psychiatrist; Dr Geneviève Hénault, psychiatrist;Fanny Lung, sociologist director of SOFOR; Catherine Skiredj Hahn, sociologist; Dr Chantal Potart, psychiatrist; Dr Alexandra De Seguin, psychiatrist; Olivier Esnault, psychiatric nurse; Dr Catherine Lemoine, psychiatrist; Amandine Vitra, clinical psychologist; Dr Pascale Less, psychiatrist; Audrey Valade, clinical psychologist; David Thomas, social worker; Estelle Gioan, clinical psychologist; Dr Julien Prorel, psychiatrist; Peirangelo Di Vittorio, philosopher; Maïder Leroux, clinical psychologist; Jorhann Bouvier, intern in psychiatry; Aurélia Khorkoff, psychomotor therapist; Simon Jaunin, clinical psychologist; Dr Eliane Proca, psychiatrist; Fred Racine, librarian; Dr Jocelyne Lengronne, psychiatrist; Valérie Waill-Blévis, psychoanalyst; Christine Lartigue, psychologist; Mathilde Stentelaire,special education teacher ; Valérie Joye, psychologist; Dr Danielle viterbo, psychiatrist; Humberto Estevez Duran, psychologist; Danièle Silva, clinical psychologist; Dr Delphine Glachant, psychiatrist; Emmanuelle Forner, psychoanalyst; Caroline Bernard, clinical psychologist; Dr Philippe Bichon, psychiatrist; Dr Charles-Olivier Pons, child psychiatrist; Dr Christophe du Fontbaré, psychiatrist; Elsa Benetos, intern in psychiatry; Edwige Landault, clinical psychologist; Charlotte Barcet, psychologist; Dr Géraldine Delcambre, psychiatrist; Patrice Marteil, clinical psychologist; Flore Verga, psychologist; Myriam Naval, banking executive; Dr Emmanuel Venet, psychiatrist; Dr Pierre Jarlan, child psychiatrist; Liliana Gonzalez, clinical psychologist; Dr Fatma Farah, psychiatrist; Céline Lefebvre-Israël, clinical psychologist; Dr Paola Velasquez,child psychiatrist; Dr Irène Kaganski, psychiatrist; Dr Pascale Beau, psychiatrist; Élise Gauthier, clinical psychologist; Charlotte Clermont, psychologist; Da'ad de Gunzbourg, psychoanalyst; Dr Nawal Souissi, psychiatrist; Amaury Marecaux, psychologist; Anne Bourgain, psychologist; Sabine Hamza, psychomotor therapist; Stéphane de Crépy, clinical psychologist; Dr Jean-Christophe Maccotta, child psychiatrist; Rosangela, Ribeiro dos Santos, clinical psychologist; Dr Nadia Baba, psychiatrist; Dr Maud Mainfroy, psychiatrist; Monique Zerbib, clinical psychologist; Dr Yves Kaufmant, psychiatrist; Dr Anne Marie Kaufmant, psychiatrist; Brigitte Bonnel, clinical psychologist; Dr Sophie Slovak, child psychiatrist; Dr Dominique Bertin, child psychiatrist; Dr Morgane Derijard-Kummer, child psychiatrist; Dr Fethi Brétel, psychiatrist; Dr Bruno Tournaire Bacchini,psychiatrist; Dr Jean-Pierre Martin, psychiatrist; Dr Laurine Mechali Ringenbach, psychiatrist; Dr Véronique Spahr, child psychiatrist; Prof. Alain Vanier, psychiatrist, professor emeritus of universities; Dr Jean-Christophe Maccotta, child psychiatrist; Dr Roger Ferreri, psychiatrist; Dr Nathalie Lambert, child psychiatrist; Dr Stéphane Daure, psychiatrist; Dr Audrey Vanel, psychiatrist; Nelly Derabours, psychiatric nurse; Jean-Claude Chaise, psychologist and Christine Chaise, retired teacher, parents of psychic patients; Audrey Le Quilliec, nurse; Michel Bruno, clinical psychologist; Christina Vincent, clinical psychologist; Maxime Martin, clinical psychologist; Anne Élodie Bronisz, psychologist; Mazet Nadine, psychologist; Marion Minari, clinical psychologist; Anaïs Ravaud, clinical psychologist; Florent Gabarron-Garcia,psychologist; Dorine Bertrand, clinical psychologist; Alain Gutton, practitioner in hypnosis; Charlotte Clermont, psychologist; Anne Bourgain, psychoanalyst; Amandine Bachelery, educational psychologist; Elizabeth Serin, clinical psychologist; Françoise Sellier, psychologist; Cécile Pinaire, clinical psychologist; Rhadija Lamrani Tissot, psychoanalyst; Sylvain Bourg, specialized educator; Françoise Attiba, psychologist; Olivier Brisson, psychomotor therapist.Françoise Attiba, psychologist; Olivier Brisson, psychomotor therapist.Françoise Attiba, psychologist; Olivier Brisson, psychomotor therapist.
