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| France: Mental Illness Common in Prisoners |
| By Reuters Health |
| Published: 08/26/2002 |
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More than half of those beginning a prison sentence in France show signs of at least one psychiatric disorder, but few prisoners get treatment, a government study shows. The Directorate of Research, Studies and the Evaluation of Statistics, a Ministry of Social Affairs service, studied 2,300 inmates in June 2001 during their admittance interview. Psychiatrists from Regional Psycho-Medical Services identified at least one psychiatric disorder of varying degrees of seriousness in 55% of the newcomers. Among them, 55% suffered from anxiety problems, 54% had some form of addiction, 42% had psychosomatic disorders and 42% showed behavioral problems. In 48% of cases, the psychiatrists judged the addictive problems 'important,' as they did 15% of the anxiety problems and 25% of the behavioral problems. In the prisons taking part in the survey, women detainees showed a slightly higher rate of psychiatric problems than did male newcomers (59% to 54%). Women were more likely to have anxiety or depression-related problems while men showed a greater tendency toward addiction. The psychiatrists estimated that one in two newcomers merited psychiatric treatment, but only 10% of those interviewed received such treatment in the month following their incarceration. Almost one in five had undergone some form of psychiatric treatment previously; 10% had already been hospitalized with a psychiatric disorder, 16% had been seen as outpatients and 12% had received treatment for alcohol-dependency. New prisoners presenting psychiatric problems tended to be young, had difficulty fitting in and frequently had a previous criminal record. |
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