France, reimbursement for the psychologist after the pandemic arrives

“The pandemic revealed the importance of the issue of mental health, ”recalled the French president Macron and confirmed a measure already announced in April, expanding it. The state will fund psychological support for all ages 3 and up. The sessions will be reimbursed and new places will be created in specialized medical centers.

According to monitoring data, 15% of French people show signs of depression, with a 5% increase compared to the situation before the pandemic, 23% have signs of anxiety.

The report of the Italian Society of NeuroPsicoFarmacologia last January said that half of the infected people manifest psychiatric disorders with a 42% incidence of anxiety or insomnia. An international research carried out in 13 countries says that on average 40 percent of the population has complained of sleep disorders, with peaks of 75% among those who have had Covid.

The problem is common. For now it’s there France to give a solution. Not an answer to without limitations. Health services will take care of patients with a doctor’s prescription. 40 euros will be available for the first session, 30 euros for the following ones to be renewed over a year in case of need. There are 80 million euros dedicated to mental health.

Antonio Cerasa, a neuroscientist at the CNR Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, explained that two segments of the population in particular have consequences from the pandemic. «On the one hand, the people most affected by the virus between 60 and 90 years. When they returned home, they continued to have symptoms: one of them is anxiety for 76% of people. Covid has produced an alteration in mood regulation. On the other hand, there are children up to twenty years of age, so many that, in Rome, the infantile neuropsychiatric ward of the Bambino Gesù hospital has filled up as never before ».

For boys, the disorder arises from social pressure, not from illness. In this range, Macron’s solution, to offer a behavioral therapy service, is basic. «The simplest thing we can imagine is the intervention of a psychologist, who knows how to use the medium and who has good communication skills. The problem is above all for the high school children who have stayed at home the most ». Waiting for the real solution: the return to life as before.

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