Un increase of 6% in consumer prices over one year, recorded in January 2023 and, in the case of food, of more than 13%. These figures tell of one of the deep difficulties with which the French, in their majority, are confronted today. A particularly trying difficulty since it affects their lives in what is most daily and, above all, most essential: having enough petrol to get to work, having access, for their children as for themselves, to sufficient and sufficiently balanced food, hygiene products.
However, if these figures are regularly found in the Economy and Society sections of magazines, they rarely appear in their Psy section. And this absence is revealing, because it shows, once again, that, if we judge the material life of people as being likely to generate significant stress for them, we do not consider that it can give rise, for as well, to deep psychological damage. As if the psyche of beings could only be affected superficially by the reality of their existence, and as if, therefore, this reality was not important enough for the “psy” to take it into account.
This erroneous conception of the psyche is fraught with consequences for individuals, which it leaves prey to suffering which, not understanding the origin, they can neither recognize the legitimacy of nor defend themselves. But it is also fraught with consequences for society, because this vision of things being generally shared by politicians, it is difficult for them to measure the political and social repercussions that repeated attacks on the living conditions of citizens can have.
Why does inflation throw us off balance?
The role that our living conditions play in our psychological balance is comparable to that played, for our postural balance, by the ground on which we move. If this ground is stable, it allows our body, without our having to think about it, to find a balance. And with it, a stability that gives us a sense of security that is essential to us.
Conversely, if the ground is not stable, it forces us to constantly seek new supports for our bodies. This search, always costly in energy, because it requires permanent vigilance, can generate in the long run, in addition to significant discomfort, very painful and very disabling postural imbalances.
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