Mental health: don’t lose sight of medical issues1
Press release from the French Academy of Medicine
June 26, 2025
Mental health has been designated as a Great National Cause by the French government in 2025. This designation undoubtedly reflects the desire to recognize the importance and prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the general population and to address the challenges facing the psychiatric sector. By highlighting the notion of ‘mental health’, a broad concept that includes prevention as well as the search for well-being, the Great National Cause goes beyond the field of medicine.
Recent data indeed demonstrate the burden of psychiatric illnesses in France: they are the leading cause of years lived with disability; They are also responsible for 35 to 45% of absenteeism at work. ‘Psychiatric illnesses’ associated with all ‘chronic psychotropic treatments’ (including anxiolytics and hypnotics) account for 14% of total expenditure and are the leading item of expenditure for the French national health insurance system (1).
The situation of psychiatric emergencies in France, highlighted by several recent reports (2), raises issues at the boundaries of the ethics of care. The number of patients waiting in various crises and emergency centers is steadily increasing, with few possibilities for hospitalization, as downstream facility availability being already saturated. Medical treatment for addictions has become difficult, including in situations where treatment is ordered by the courts.
Given the critical situation in the field of psychiatry, the French Academy of Medicine believes that the actions of the National Mental Health Great National Cause Initiative, in addition to putting forward patients, diseases and their treatments should as a priority:
– Place a strong emphasis on prevention, which, in this area of health, must involve lifestyle analysis and detecting psychiatric illnesses as early as possible, including in children and adolescents, particularly at school;
– Recognize the priority nature of psychiatric emergency facilities or those intended for the most severely affected patients, the most socially isolated or with the most comorbidities;
– Focus on the recognition of validated treatments and, without calling into question the essential care territorialization represented by the psychiatry sectorization, on the introduction of new care organizations and new treatments, particularly medications, psychotherapy or brain stimulation;
– Promote the use of the following terms to designate the main psychiatric disorders: mood disorders, particularly major depressions; anxiety disorders, addictive behaviors; psychotic disorders. This is to fight against stigmatization, as words used to refer to certain people with illnesses (autistic, paranoid, hysterical) are too often used as insults;
– Raise public awareness and provide care for the pathologies observed in the field of child psychiatry, particularly in adolescents (self-harm; suicidal tendencies; eating disorders), by explaining to parents that these disorders are pathologies that need to be taken care of and not a family shame to be hidden;
– Identify and prevent addictions as a major lever for improving mental health (reducing anxiety, depression, impulsive and suicidal behaviors) and their frequently resulting social problems.
References
- Santé publique France, Fiche santé mentale, mise à jour le 6 décembre 2023 (Mental health sheet, updated on December 6, 2023)
https://www.santepubliquefrance.fr/maladies-et-traumatismes/sante-mentale) (consulté le 5 juin 2025).
- Assemblée Nationale, Rapport de la mission d’information sur la prise en charge des urgences psychiatriques, 10 décembre 2024 (French National Assembly, Report of the information mission on the management of psychiatric emergencies, December 10, 2024)
PRESS CONTACT: Virginie Gustin +33 (0)6 62 52 43 42 virginie.gustin@academie-medecine.fr NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, 16 rue Bonaparte – 75272 Paris cedex 06 Website: www.academie-medecine.fr / Twitter: @Acadmed
