France's youth mental health crisis has gotten worse since the pandemic, study shows
France’s youth mental health crisis is only getting worse, according to a new study that found young people are seeking mental health services at a much higher rate than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the pandemic’s wake, countries across Europe are grappling with an uptick in young people with anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other mental health conditions
Today, one in seven adolescents worldwide is struggling with their mental health – and France is no exception, according to the study, which included about 20 million people aged 25 and younger and was published in the JAMA Network Open journal.
Between 2016 and 2023, the rate of mental health visits, hospitalisations, and prescriptions for medicines like antidepressants, mood stabilisers, and antipsychotics increased “significantly” among France’s youth, and the surge was particularly apparent after the pandemic, according to the study led by researchers from Aix-Marseille University in France.
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“The situation in France is not an isolated case and COVID-19 has put to the fore the shortcomings of our mental health system,” Marcel Marchetti from the advocacy group Mental Health Europe told Euronews Health.
“The increased use of medication, especially among young people, is concerning, especially in light of the over-medicalisation of mental health issues”.
Gender differences
France’s teenage girls and young women appear to be in particular distress.
Over the study period, girls and young women, teenagers, and young adults became more likely to undergo outpatient psychiatric consultations, while girls and young women, as well as young adults overall, were increasingly likely to be hospitalised for attempting suicide.
Prescriptions for nearly every type of mental health medication rose for girls and young women, especially in the post-pandemic period, the study found.
Boys and young men also saw an increase in prescriptions for antidepressants, alcohol addiction medications, and methylphenidates – stimulants used to treat ADHD – but the uptick was not as significant as for girls and women.
The researchers said social media may help explain the differences between boys and girls.
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“Compared with boys, girls’ social media use may be more frequent, more exposed to cyberbullying, and likely to result in interpersonal stress, a common factor associated with suicide attempts and depression,” they said.
The French government is experimenting with a smartphone ban in middle schools, and supports EU-wide restrictions on social media before the age of 15.
Meanwhile, before his ouster last month, then-Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron, said mental health should be the French government’s top priority in 2025.
France’s young people are also grappling with gaps in access to care, with the number of child psychiatrists falling by 34 per cent between 2010 and 2022, according to the national auditor.
“There’s a problem with getting actual access to mental health support,” Alex Quinn, a policy officer at the advocacy group European Youth Forum, told Euronews Health.
Europe’s youth mental health dilemma
Notably, the study found that prescriptions for drugs used to treat serious mental health conditions, such as lithium and clozapine, became more frequent for children as young as six.
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The researchers said this increase was “particularly striking” and could indicate that diagnoses of bipolar disorders have risen in France.
Traumatic events and high-stress periods can trigger bipolar disorder during the teenage years, and it appears that the condition – which causes extreme mood swings between mania and depression – has become more common globally.
Overall, the study’s findings are in line with previous research that suggests the mental health toll on European youth is severe.
A Danish study identified rising levels of psychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic drug use during the pandemic, while in Spain, suicide attempts climbed by 195 per cent among adolescent girls between September 2020 and March 2021.
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Beyond social media, family dynamics and economic stress during the pandemic could be driving the increase, the researchers said.
Quinn also pointed to financial precarity, political and social instability, and a sense of having a lack of control over the future as potential drivers of poor mental health among young people.
“Young people are not a homogenous group,” Quinn said. “It’s probably young people from certain backgrounds, or in certain social classes, who are probably much more at risk than others”.
If you are contemplating suicide and need to talk, please reach out to Befrienders Worldwide, an international organisation with helplines in 32 countries. Visit befrienders.org to find the telephone number for your location.
