Dfor around ten years, the Primo Levi Center (Paris 11e) notes a worrying development in the mental health of exiled people, aggravated by the now omnipresent and inescapable violence that they experience on the path to exile. Tortured, imprisoned, raped, these people flee their country and accumulate trauma throughout their journey to France, from simple humiliation to torture, including sexual violence.
This does not only imply an addition of violence, but an acute traumatic potential, especially since it occurs on people already weakened and tested by the violence suffered in their country of origin. This new configuration, structural today, primarily among women, considerably tests people’s personal resources and resilience capacities, exerts considerable pressure on support and care systems, while extending treatment time. .
France is one of the three main host country asylum seekers in Europe. It is expected to be increasingly requested by people fleeing armed conflicts and violence, despite the physical or legislative barriers put in place in recent years. These people, who seek protection from our country and whose mental health is deteriorating, need to be treated.
Recourse to the associative sector becomes essential
Given the seriousness of their psychological disorders and their specificity, the number of people affected and their strong interactions with society, their suffering constitutes an unavoidable reality and a real public health issue. It is also a broader social issue, because the majority of exiled people who arrive in France are intended to stay and work there.
Taking into account psychological suffering is therefore part of the welcome and the steps towards integration. However, as we already highlighted in 2018 in our report “The psychological suffering of exiles, a public health emergency”, the current health system does not respond to this challenge. The provision of mental health care for exiled people remains largely undersized, particularly at the level of so-called “advanced” care, the only condition for reducing disorders, the risks of decompensation and the long-term cost for society. .
The teams of accommodation structures are on the front line to welcome these populations, but identifying and supporting psychological suffering is difficult in the absence of training. Even when the disorder is identified, the possibilities of referral to common law structures are slim: these are saturated, understaffed and mostly concentrated in large cities, particularly in Ile-de-France. Recourse to the associative sector thus becomes essential.
You have 52.28% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.