Mental health: for Hugo Baup, psychiatrist, the great national cause has turned into a "great national talk"
The issue of athletes' mental health has gradually crept into the debate in recent years, particularly during major sporting competitions. Because this subject "not only must no longer be taboo" , The Olympic (CNOSF) and Paralympic (CPSF) Committees, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep) and the National Sports Agency (ANS), the armed wing of sports policy, particularly concerning high-level sports, are preparing to launch a "multi-year joint action plan".
The agenda includes reimbursement of therapy sessions, better training for coaches, and support for athletes at the end of their careers.
If you're seeing things in a negative light or experiencing suicidal thoughts, this is a warning sign that you should take seriously. Don't be alone: organizations offer compassionate support to people who are depressed or experiencing suicidal thoughts, with free, anonymous listening services. The national suicide prevention number, 3114 , is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The SOS Amitié telephone hotline is also accessible 24 hours a day at 09 72 39 40 50. Le Fil Santé Jeunes also offers a service for 12-25 year-olds on the themes of health, sexuality, love, discomfort, etc. at 0 800 235 236.
Thanks to Hugo Baup, psychiatrist and author of "Comment ça va, toi?" (Larousse), who you can also follow on Instagram , for his participation in this live broadcast. We will meet our next guest, Anne-Sophie de Surgy, psychologist and national secretary for mental health of the Socialist Party, around 3 p.m. You can already ask her your questions.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
I now call it the "Grande Causerie nationale" (National Great Talk), because we have indeed talked about mental health on TV sets in every possible way, without really knowing what we were talking about anymore, and I think that this has made invisible people who suffer from a real mental health disorder and for whom the difficulty of accessing care is a daily reality.
The political powers have not taken the measure of the need to revitalize our profession of psychiatrist, to make young people want to choose this specialty again, and to restore the image of French research in mental health. And then, the issue of social insecurity, poor housing, but also the difficulties of accessing rights for people with disabilities such as the adult disability allowance (AAH) within the departmental homes for people with disabilities (MDPH), all of this makes it often hopeless when one tries to get treatment in France.
I remain optimistic, I continue to practice my profession with passion but I do not hide it: the working conditions are difficult.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
Indeed, medical wandering is a reality and in France in 2025, it is still an obstacle course to get treatment when you have a mental health problem.
There are different barriers: first, you have to understand that you are not well; then, you have to decide to ask for help. And then, you never know which psychologist to turn to: is it a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a psychoanalyst, a psychopractitioner, a psychotherapist? We are often lost in all these names which are not all regulated in the same way and are not all equal.
Once we meet the psychologist in question, will the feeling be right, will he make the right diagnosis? And then, will the right treatment be proposed, will it work, will it have side effects or not?
The role of caregivers is essential, and I also talk about it in my book, in which I give some advice on how to support a loved one who is not well.
But as a caregiver, you also need to be able to protect yourself, to give yourself time to yourself, because your own mental health can also be gradually eroded.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
I think that little by little, the issue of mental health and mental disorders is being better and better addressed in the media and in cinema, even if we still see caricatures and gross errors here and there.
I prefer to focus on what is going well, like the series "Empathy" which I devoured recently and which gives a very faithful image of our beautiful profession of psychiatrist, with its richness, its complexity but also its limits.
I think it's also up to us, health professionals, to occupy the media space to deliver accurate information, but also to dust off the image of our profession and make it more transparent. And also to fight against what we call "derapeutes," these self-proclaimed therapists who promise the earth to people suffering from mental disorders, offering wacky "treatments" based on "quantum vibrational therapies," or "detox juices" supposed to cure schizophrenia, and so on. These practices are very likely to lead to sectarian excesses and represent a loss of opportunity for people who fall into the clutches of these unscrupulous charlatans. And I actively fight them.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
Some people affected by a mental health problem will want to talk about it at work and with their employer, for example, while others will want to remain completely discreet about the subject.
This is entirely an individual choice as many parameters come into play.
Not all employers have the same sensitivity to mental health issues, nor do all companies, and each person concerned has their own experiences and aspirations.
Also read
Marie Fiachetti • 7 minutes
Subscriber
And then, odious and inhumane working conditions can still exist and it is very easy and "practical", when a job has not been done as requested, to refer the employee to their psychological vulnerability and their individual responsibility. But we also have collective responsibilities regarding mental health and mental disorders, it is not simply about the person and their disorder. We need strong political choices which, in my opinion, have not yet been made.
The mental health of managers is also a separate issue; these people are particularly prone to burnout and general exhaustion, often not counting their hours and having difficulty discussing their own psychological vulnerability so as not to scare away investors, for example.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
I don't advise people to use artificial intelligence like a psychologist.
I think that artificial intelligence is a good tool, if used well, to help healthcare professionals on a daily basis, whether in psychiatry or in other specialties.
But when you have a mental health problem, what is needed above all is a human encounter between the person and a psychiatrist or psychologist, with a feeling of being safe in the consultation, of being able to open up with confidence, of being listened to in a neutral and non-judgmental way. It is a bond that is woven over weeks and months, sometimes years, and artificial intelligence does not allow this feeling of security prior to any psychological improvement. The use of artificial intelligence when you have a mental health problem also carries risks, as we have seen recently in various news stories.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
Good morning,
Yes, I would like to and thank you for asking the question.
The phenomena of derealization and depersonalization are not illnesses as such but symptoms that can be found mainly in anxiety disorders and panic attacks (anxiety attacks), but also during phases of dissociation in people affected by post-traumatic stress disorder for example. In the phenomena of depersonalization and derealization, we can have the sensation of being next to our body, sometimes of seeing ourselves from above, we have a feeling of strangeness and unreality, as if around us we were in a movie set, something artificial that does not have a consistency of reality.
These phenomena can be fully addressed by psychologists and psychiatrists who are trained in these various disorders. Treatments exist, whether psychotherapeutic or medication-based.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
Hello and thank you for this question.
Indeed, the term "mental health" has become a bit of a catch-all, a catch-all term that means we don't even really know what we're talking about anymore.
For people suffering from mental health problems, the medical aspect is indeed important because it leads to treatments, whether psychotherapeutic, medicinal or otherwise.
But in fact, as a psychiatrist, what I personally aim for when I see someone in my consultation is their recovery, their general functioning and ultimately, what I want is to help them regain control of their life trajectory.
I work in collaboration with social workers, job coaches, and career advisors, because mental health is not just about treating a mental health disorder.
It's also about precariousness, poor housing, access to employment, how we feel with our family, with our friends, whether we have leisure activities, whether we feel integrated into society. All sorts of parameters that come into play and that make our profession so rich.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
Indeed, daily exposure to media channels that often tend to focus on negative things rather than positive ones can have an impact on your mental health.
It depends a lot on the temperament and personality of each person, but also on individual vulnerability to sources of stress.
But overall, it's better to focus on sources of pleasure, leisure activities, physical activity, time spent with loved ones and moments of disconnection rather than passively scrolling through negative news content.
We must also be particularly careful with shocking images coming to us from war zones, but also with content concerning fights, physical attacks, all kinds of videos circulating on social networks which can be quite traumatizing for the viewer.
These contents are not harmless and can gradually eat away at your energy.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
If someone around you seems to be having an anxiety attack or a panic attack, and you have no specific training in this area, you should first contact the Samu-Centres 15 or a doctor, because before talking about an anxiety attack or a panic attack, you must ensure that the person is not experiencing a cardiovascular or respiratory problem that could give the impression that it is an anxiety attack, when it is not at all.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
When you have been suffering for several months, several years, from an illness that is eating away at you and for which no doctor has made a precise diagnosis, it can be quite relieving to one day hear the sound of this diagnosis, to better understand what you have been going through recently, to know that other people also suffer from this disorder and that treatments exist and work, whether psychotherapeutic, medicinal or otherwise.
But a diagnosis is not revealed haphazardly either. You often have to be gradual, sometimes try several times when you are a doctor to give precise information, take into account the fact that the person in front of you can sometimes be in a particular state when you make this announcement, keep in mind that they may not understand all the ins and outs of such an announcement from the first day. You have to make sure that the person has understood, and don't hesitate to suggest that they meet with those around them to explain to family and friends how the disorder works and what the warning signs of a relapse are, for example.
And then, we can go through different phases, sometimes we feel relieved by a diagnosis, sometimes we have the feeling that it does not at all correctly describe what we are going through and that the doctor is wrong, sometimes it takes time to accept it. Sometimes also, the hypothesis initially put forward will not be the right one and the doctor will change his mind because new elements come into play. A diagnosis is not set in stone and must be re-evaluated regularly, especially in psychiatry, a specialty at the crossroads of medical, human and social sciences in which so many parameters come into play.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
It is difficult to say whether public figures speaking out about their own mental health problems actually helps others affected by them.
It would be more appropriate to ask them the question.
If these well-known figures feel better after talking about it, if it helps them in their own recovery, that's a good thing. But it must also not be at the expense of the other people involved. And I'm not sure that the speaking out of these well-known figures will have a real impact on French healthcare policy and on the fact that psychiatry remains a poorly understood, shipwrecked specialty, and very rarely chosen by medical interns, which partly explains the difficulty of accessing quality care.
Nor should it become a marketing strategy to sell more CDs, more books, by riding the mental health wave. There are ways to properly share your mental health experience so that it has a real impact without worsening the situation of the people who listen to it.
For example, to discuss the issue of suicide correctly, you can visit the Papageno program website, which provides very valuable advice.
We welcome psychiatrist Fatma Bouvet de la Maisonneuve for a thirty-minute live video, which you can watch here . Hosted by our journalist Marion Lizé, this exchange will allow the practitioner and writer, author of books exploring the psychological effects of racism, to take a look at mental health and answer the societal questions that arise from it.
Question
Hugo Baup, psychiatrist:
There are three fundamental pillars for which particular vigilance is important: diet, sleep and physical activity.
If you begin to experience a loss of appetite that develops over time, becomes increasingly intense, or the feeling of increasingly turning to food and having bouts of binge eating, this may be a sign of deteriorating mental health.
Similarly, if you have increasing difficulty falling asleep, if you have restless sleep, if you wake up in the morning with a feeling of unrefreshing sleep, and if this persists over time – over several days or weeks – you should be alerted and ask for help. We are not just talking about having a bad night from time to time, which can happen to anyone, but really about a frank and chronic alteration of sleep.
Finally, the fact of no longer enjoying your physical activities as you did before, of no longer wanting to go jogging as usual, of going to your team sports training, this can also be the sign of a mental disorder that is setting in, and this will also maintain a worsening of your mental health because physical activity, when possible, is an important way of maintaining good balance and good mental hygiene and of fighting against stress.
More generally, if you have the feeling that you are losing the desire to do things, the possibility of taking pleasure in your activities, your hobbies, this is a warning signal.
Finally, the subtle signals detected by your family or friends are also very important things to take into account. If your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends find that you get carried away more easily, that you withdraw into yourself, that you don't seem in your element, if your children make comments to you about the fact that you are less able to keep calm, it could also be the fact that you are gradually losing your footing.
Finally, if you find yourself increasingly resorting to substance use such as alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, or cannabis, this is also a strong indicator of deteriorating mental health, and can further accelerate the deterioration. Using these substances is never a good idea, even if you feel like it may occasionally reduce anxiety, your mental health problems will always worsen with the use of these substances.
https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20251010.OBS108592/un-psy-qui-nous-ressemble-c-est-aussi-un-moyen-de-se-sentir-en-confiance.html
