According to the health barometer published by Public Health France in February 2023, depressive episodes have indeed known “An unprecedented acceleration between 2017 and 2021 (+ 36 %)”. They touched 1 young out of 5 adults in 2021, “Or an increase of almost 80 % compared to 2017”. Likewise, the 5th report of the National Suicide Observatory published in September 2022 reports a degradation of the “Mental health of the French population (…) under the effect of the health crisis” and a “Strong increase in the number of suicidal gestures among young people from the second half of 2020”. Finally, according to the barometer of political trust published in February 2025, 40 % of French people say they feel “weariness” and 35 % of “gloom”.
In our rural areas and popular neighborhoods, this trend is aggravated by several factors. Thus, the last congress of the National Union of Communal Centers of Social Action was an opportunity to denounce a “triple pain” for young rural people, between “Their geographic isolation, their social stigma and the lack of suitable offer”. However, when we know that the state of psychiatry in France is already very degraded-1 in 2 people suffering from psychiatric disorders encounters difficulties in finding an appointment-, medical desertification in certain territories necessarily has a multiplier effect. In the so -called “priority of the city” districts, this phenomenon affects populations whose precariousness and certain cultural reluctance also reduce care.
Faced with this situation, the government has decided to make mental health the “great national cause” of 2025. This is a first step, but it is not enough. Indeed, its degradation also has more structural causes such as the disintegration of social ties, the increase in sources of anxiety and frustration by the effect of social networks and continuous information chains and the erosion of quality of life on the background of inflation and global warming. We are therefore faced with a real fight which requires more than cosmetic and short terms.
It is first of all essential to make it a “national emergency”! On the ground, we can testify to the effects on society of these mental and mental disorders. It is this college student who disturbs the courses, leading to her comrades in his discomfort. Or these adolescents who fill a need for recognition by their involvement in sometimes fatal brawls. And what about the cost for our collective future of this completely overwhelmed parent or this young person who sinks into drug trafficking or alcohol consumption? If the degradation of mental health does not explain everything, it is all the same time to recognize its responsibility in the multiplication of these phenomena.
If it is up to health professionals to provide answers above all, it is essential to associate local elected officials and social workers-on the model of the peer-aid in force, in particular in Canada. Experts from our territories, their particular issues and the experience of their inhabitants, we can participate in a better care of people who are also our neighbors, our little brothers and sisters and our elders. Local mental health councils are a good framework for building these solutions and strengthening the links between the different parties concerned. They must nevertheless find a breath that goes through their generalization on French territory – there are 280 today – and by the promotion of their decision -making power.
But, to improve this prevention, we must above all change their gaze on mental health. In our campaigns and popular neighborhoods, this issue is too often described as a “rich problem”. Worse: it would only concern “weak” or “crazy”! According to the Ministry of Health, 38 % of young people aged 18 to 24 “Have the feeling of not taking care of their mental health” and 70 % of French people “Endorse a stereotype concerning people with mental health problems”. However, by our daily listening, we, local elected officials and social workers, can help deconstruct these prejudices. By the confidence that we have been able to weave with the inhabitants, we can facilitate their orientation towards professionals. By our experience, we can understand their difficulties.
Both “thermometers” of these suffering and “doctors” of social ties, our role must therefore be recognized in this work of improving mental health in France. It is about our well-being. And social cohesion in our country.
- Adji Ahoudian, Deputy Mayor of 19e arrondissement, in charge of prevention and relations with social centers (75)
- Hind Ayadi, Founder of the Hope and Creation Association
- Ingrid Berthou, Clinical psychologist
- Available Cancel, Film producer, director of a socio-cultural center
- Isabelle Dugelet, Mayor of Gresle, vice-president of Charlieu-Belmont Community in charge of social cohesion and health (42)
- Chantal Jourdan, MP (PS) of the Orne, co -president of the “Mental Health” study group in the National Assembly
- Alamy kanouté, Actor-director, prevention consultant
- Wesley Ngo Baheng, Entrepreneur, former professional footballer and director of youth antenna
- Saidou Niang, Founder of LM (Les Moulins) Records 06, social mediator
- Arnaud Platel, Municipal councilor of Plomelin, community councilor of Quimper Bretagne Western (29)
- Mama and, Regional councilor of Île-de-France, specialized educator and initiator of the project “Un Psy en la Cité”
