At the start of the spring term, I'd like to share with you one of my recent reads, Les Dragons by Belgian journalist and writer Jérôme Colin. The author tells the story of a teenager's revolt in the face of external upheaval, his parents' resignation and the existential questions that trouble him. It's not easy to imagine making a place for yourself in a dysfunctional world...
This book really moved me. It touches on one of my recurring concerns, the psychological health of students at UNIL, which suffered greatly during the COVID and the successive polarising crises, at a time of life when exchanges with others play a crucial role. I therefore wanted to know whether the situation on our campuses had improved since the end of the pandemic.
This concern is shared by the FAE (federation of student associations), which notes that more and more students are reporting depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts. The figures show that the prevalence of such problems is 1% of the general population aged 25-30, but rises to 5% among students. Exam stress, financial insecurity: the phenomenon is multi-factorial. Faced with this reality, the FAE has developed a number of tools: mindfulness sessions, promotion of sport, prevention workshops, collaboration with Stop Suicide or psychological counselling services - the range of support is varied. However, students make little use of them, because mental health is still taboo. For the FAE, there is therefore an urgent need to deconstruct prejudices, raise awareness of the resources available, such as the Help-UNIL scheme to protect the work and study environment, the chaplaincy and psychotherapeutic counselling for students, and standardise their use.
Attached to the Social Affairs and Student Mobility Service (SASME), the latter is part of the Outpatient Intake and Brief Intervention Unit of the CHUV's General Psychiatry Service and draws up an annual report that takes the pulse of the community. For Dr Sylvie Berney, who runs the unit, 2023 will be a year full of question marks. While the number of people consulting the centre has fallen slightly compared with 2022, a year in which there was a significant increase, we are seeing a return to the problems that existed before the pandemic. It is true that students have rediscovered a social fabric and a community life that are conducive to good mental health, but this is still a pivotal period in their lives, with the possible onset of mental disorders, family and/or romantic crises and the pressure of studying. The decreases or increases in demand, with the variations inherent in the academic calendar (transitional periods, such as the start of the Bachelor's degree and the end of the Master's degree, remain acute stress factors), do not allow us to draw reliable epidemiological conclusions about any improvement or deterioration in students' mental health.
On the other hand, from the point of view of counselling, the number of people seeking help is clearly lower than might be expected. There may be various reasons for this: students may be monitored outside UNIL, or it may be that not enough people are aware of the range of services on offer. Whatever the case, Sylvie Berney reiterates the importance of prevention on three levels:
- primary, which means, for example, having access to a balanced diet and a gym, or having manageable course timetables. In this respect, UNIL not only offers a high-quality environment, but also services to students that make a significant contribution to primary prevention: financial and housing assistance through SASME, support with work organisation and learning methods through the SOC, etc. However, some study programmes are still problematic in terms of primary prevention because of the workload, which makes it more difficult for many students to achieve an academic-life balance;
- secondary prevention, i.e. the early detection of disorders, which requires increased communication and regular training for groups likely to receive students in distress (support staff, FAE, peers);
- tertiary prevention, which involves adapting studies to take account of so-called disability situations and, here again, raising staff awareness. These complementary levels are important to take into account in order to provide better information and reduce preconceived ideas.
Karin Hehlen, head of the Guidance and Careers Service (SOC), agrees. Every year, in collaboration with the FAE, her service runs the "How are you doing? survey, which involves first-year students being called by trained peers two months after the start of the academic year. Depending on the difficulties raised during the telephone interview, students are redirected to appropriate internal resources, and may ask to be called back by SOC psychologists, who act as a link to SASME if necessary. The results for the past year, which are about to be made public, show that the level of perceived well-being has fallen slightly. The post-pandemic situation has not returned to normal, because the societal and environmental context was already not extraordinary before the pandemic. What is also certain is that the student population is not consulting the SOC as much as it "should". The SOC is making efforts to communicate and raise awareness during its survey, but it only concerns students who are just starting their studies. It would be interesting to carry out a follow-up, particularly after the first exams, which are often crucial, as well as later on in the course.
Grégoire Zimmermann, Professor of Psychology at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the UNIL, points out that 10-15% of young people have psychological problems that require treatment. During the second wave of the pandemic, 30% of 18-25 year-olds even showed symptoms of psychological distress, twice as many as older people. The isolation caused by COVID has had a major impact on young people at an age when social interaction is essential, especially when the family context is dysfunctional. But for him, the psychological state of these "emerging adults" is above all indicative of the state of the world - students are probably more vulnerable than individuals in other developmental periods, because their life choices are not yet definitive. What's more, how can they project themselves calmly into the future in the face of an increasing number of new depressing factors (climate change, armed conflicts, etc.)? For Grégoire Zimmermann, it's a question of moving away from the individual and taking a more systemic view of the problem. In other words, while it's true that treating individuals is necessary, it's also a question of moving away from the "I" to change the paradigm and take more collective action on the social determinants.
As you will have realised, mental health is a complex issue, and one that our researchers and dozens of people who work at UNIL on a daily basis are working on. While it is difficult to have a real overview of how our students are doing, I can only warmly encourage anyone who feels anxious, depressed or in distress to use the existing structures and seek help quickly. In the face of societal change, it's normal to feel lost, and I hope that these lines will help to destigmatise psychological difficulties, this evil of our time.
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