Jmy name is Paul. I’m 37 and since the lockdowns I feel like things aren’t going back to the way they were. I sleep badly, I am anxious, sometimes a little sad. I’d go see a shrink, but I tell myself that it’s for crazy people, that stuff, or those who have no character. It’s well known. So I stay like that.
My name is lucie. I am 16 years old and several times a week I cut my wrists. Never very deep at the moment, but sometimes I think I’m going deeper. I’m afraid of what might happen. I don’t understand what is happening to me. I talk about it a bit with my friends. They tell me to go see someone. It’s weird talking about me to a stranger. How could he help me without knowing me? What if he judges me? So I stay like that.
My name is Victor, I am 25 years old, and I have just been told that I probably suffer from schizophrenia. But the guy must be wrong. I don’t have two personalities! And then, I never hurt anyone. There are a lot of things that have been bothering me for the past few months that are making me feel really bad. But nothing to do with what’s in the movies or the series. He’s wrong, and I’m not going to see him again. So I stay like that.
My name is Pauline, I am 54 years old, and I have just attempted suicide. I took medicine because I wanted everything to stop. I am divorced, the children live their life and I feel alone. And then, we are only being told bad news at the moment. War, pandemic, rising prices. I should tell someone. But if I go to the emergency room, they will lock me up. That’s how they do, when you do these things. So I stay like that.
In 2022, in France, psychiatry would have answers and tools to offer Paul, Lucie, Victor and Pauline. Could that have helped them? Would that have been effective? We’ll never know. Although they live in very different situations, they have one thing in common. Guided by a stereotype, a received idea, imprecise or downright false information, they will never have the opportunity to form their own opinion.
Sensational and false information
To stigmatize psychiatry is to rob you of the choice to access care. Prevent you from deciding whether it can be right for you or not. Whether she can help you or not. To caricature psychiatry is to leave you alone in the face of suffering. Using the wrong words to talk about psychiatry makes you hesitate to talk about it to your loved ones.
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