2023-06-01 16:15:47
Anxiety-depressive disorders are more common among people who are struggling to make ends meet. golubovy / stock.adobe.com
A majority of French people admit to having difficulty living with their household income, in particular among those earning less than 2,000 euros net per month, according to an Ifop study.
Reduction of the food budget but also lack of sleep, stress or even depression… According to a study carried out by Ifop for My little package, the effects of inflation would have more incidences on the daily life of the French than what the one could imagine. One of the most impressive figures of this study concerns the “stay to liveof the respondents once the obligatory expenses have been deducted. From the 10th of the month, 31% of them find themselves with less than 100 euros in their bank account, including 10% who have nothing left. A proportion that explodes among people most in psychological distress, since this reality concerns 47% of people suffering from suicidal thoughts.
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A daily life modified by inflation
More generally, 56% of people surveyed admit to having difficulty living with their household income according to the study, which points to a “significant increaseby 7 points of this proportion compared to January 2023. This reality is also reflected, for 34% of them, by the impossibility of paying the charges related to their accommodation, such as gas and electricity bills. electricity, on time. That is a proportion up by 5 points in eighteen months (29% in October 2021). And unsurprisingly, it is the people in the most financial difficulty who display the most widespread anxiety-depressive disorders such as anxiety (54%) or depression (31%).
«The current surge in prices not only leads to cutting back on the material living conditions of the poorest French people but also to weakening their mental health: anxiety-depressive disorders being much more frequent in the fraction of the population most in financial difficulty whatever regardless of the indicator used“, explains François Kraus, the director of the political pole of Ifop, who ensures that this investigation highlights “the link between insecurity and psychological distress“with sleep disorders, anxiety or even a depressive state”in a context where inflation is forcing more and more people to tighten their belts».
And if 42% of respondents note an increase in prices on all types of products, they are up to 82% to have felt an increase in food products, and 77% on gasoline and 75% on oil prices. energy. As a direct consequence, the proportion of French people who have reduced their food expenditure for financial reasons has doubled in the space of fifteen years, going from 29% in 2007 to 58% in 2023. Worse, for the same reasons, one out of two people surveyed even comes to “skipping meals(51%, +7 points since June 2022) of which 28% do so quite regularly.
These practices are all the more worrying since the study highlights that half of the people questioned (50%) in the context of this study confide that they sometimes give up certain medical care for lack of money. A proportion up 6 points compared to last year. In fact, the number of people who explain that they have postponed certain health expenses over the last twelve months has almost doubled: even if they remain a minority, they are today 41% to have done so, against 25% a year ago. fifteen years, in 2007.
A stern look at state policy
In this context, respondents seem very critical of the policy implemented by the government on this subject. A large majority of French people (73%) believe that the Borne government is not doing enough to fight against rising prices. A figure that must nevertheless be qualified, since 24% of them still believe that the State “act as it shouldin this area, compared to 16% in October 2022.
«Inflation places, day after day, those who experience it in a position of helplessness“wrote on this subject the French psychoanalyst Claude Halmos in the worldwho also explains that this feeling of powerlessness “can also, if unhindered by shame, cause anger“. However, according to her, insofar as inflation affects the whole of the French population, the latter feels quite “legitimate to express it, as they have done in the recent demonstrations“, thus showing in broad daylight “the depth of the repercussions that the measures that modify the reality of their lives have on them».
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