2023-10-11 02:38:38
For three days, the island’s mental health professionals gathered at the Stella Matutina Museum to meet and discuss. For the third edition of the Reunion Mental Health Days, the fight against addictive behavior was placed at the center of the debates. Indeed, a third of patients treated for psychiatric disorders in Reunion also suffer from addiction problems.
Written by MB – Wednesday October 11, 2023 at 6:32 a.m., updated on Wednesday October 11, 2023 at 6:36 a.m.
Meet each other, open up to other disciplines and how to improve support for users. This is what will occupy the participants in this third edition of the Reunion Mental Health Days. The main players, from both the public and private sectors, met at these meetings, organized in particular by the EPMSR.
Aude d’Abbadie-Savalli, general director of Les Flamboyants clinics, recalls that “these dual pathologies must be better treated. If alcohol and zamal have long been identified, the recent appearance of NDS (new synthetic drugs) pose new challenges and show that Reunion is no longer protected as in the past.”.
Gérard Cotellon, director general of ARS Réunion, also underlines the importance of a global reflection on these two related problems. “This week is particularly awaited by the island’s professionals to highlight their actions. But it is also shared by patients and families who fight against the prejudices surrounding mental illness. We hope that these meetings will allow us to go further to find local solutions for the territory.”, explains Gérard Cotellon. “We often observe a link between addictive behavior and a pathology. It even regularly happens that an addictive practice is the first visible symptom of a mental illness,” confirms psychiatrist Erick Gokalsing, head of department at EPSMR.
Meetings open to the public and schools
A film debate and class visits are also on the program. Thus, students will be able to interact with representatives of the EPSMR suicide prevention center. “In Reunion, around 10% of suicides concern young people, which is a little more than in mainland France.”, underlines Doctor Pauline Mascarel, head of this service. The professionals are therefore giving themselves until Thursday to discuss in order to develop the protocols.
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