Every deadly tragedy, including the Amqui ram attack, raises the same question. Did the accused have serious mental health problems? Instead of speculating, however, the answer should wait for the testing phase.
If the question nevertheless arises spontaneously, it is because we all know well beyond the tragedies that mental health resources are dangerously scarce.
In addition, the pandemic has plunged many of us into deep social isolation. However, the line between isolation, need and despair is sometimes a fine one. Very thin.
This is where the apparent inaccessibility to psychologists and psychiatrists, to the public and even the private sector, does the most damage. And what about its harmful effect even before someone gets into distress?
In response to the deadly attack in Amqui, Prime Minister François Legault, realizing he lacked the means, turned to the people.
“If you see someone close to you showing worrisome signs, you need to find a way to intervene,” he said. Naturally.
how to intervene
But how do you do that when the waiting lists for psychotherapy and psychiatry are endless? How to intervene when a loved one needs real professional support but cannot get it in a normal time? For beyond recent tragedies, the root causes of which we do not yet know, human tragedies are secretly multiplying. How many find themselves in distress behind the closed doors of homes without active mental health support?
Ultimate responsibility lies with politicians. In the program Tout un matin, Dr. Marie-Ève Cotton, psychiatrist, notes that in Quebec, a third of consultations in the healthcare system are for a mental health issue, while the latter is only entitled to 1/7 of the budget.
Only governments have the financial resources to remedy this increasingly worrying situation.
