“My head and me” is the monthly
20-minute program
dedicated to youth mental health.
The goal of this meeting: to understand certain mental pathologies thanks to the testimonies of young people concerned and to try to find solutions to get better.
In this fourth issue, we talk about alcohol among young people and the interest in questioning their consumption.
“The benchmarks and signals to see if we are on the road to addiction are simple,” explains addictologist Philippe Batel.
Marion, 18, remembers the tooth she lost at a party. Maria *, 23, from her multiple awakenings in hospital due to alcoholic comas. Emilie, 25, remembers nothing. These three young women do not consider themselves addicted to alcohol. However, after these events, they all started to drink excessively again. “Before, drunkenness was an accident. Today, it is a neurobiological and sensational experience that young people are looking for, ”analyzes addictologist Philippe Batel.
Aperitif after class, warm-up, OB (open bar evening): many moments in student life revolve around alcohol.
While fewer people under 25 who drink regularly are fewer than before, more young people experience significant occasional alcohol use (API).
This consumption, sometimes seen as a rite of youth that will disappear once the person has entered working life, is not without consequences.
There are cases of early addiction and above all, regular and excessive consumption at a young age can sensitize the brain to an addiction that will emerge years later.
A risky consumption
"I like to drink until I feel completely elsewhere, until I no longer really have control of my body," says Emilie, 25. The young girl regularly has alcoholic comas but does not consider herself dependent because she says she can "go several days without touching a drop of alcohol".
Same look for Marion, 18, who often forgets part of her evening because of the drink but knows that she "had a good time".
Not long ago, she left some pieces of teeth there.
“Considering the number of times I do parties, it's not much,” reassures the young girl.
The consequences could indeed be much worse.
Road accidents, drownings or sexual assaults are all tragedies to which drinkers are exposed.
As a reminder, alcohol is responsible for one in four deaths among young people.
A need to increase the dose
Risk consumption is therefore not to be taken lightly.
However, it is not synonymous with addiction.
“The benchmarks and signals to see if we are on the road to dependence are simple,” recalls Philippe Batel.
“When you have to increase the dose of the product to feel the same effect, you have what is called physical tolerance.
"
This tolerance, Mathieu, 23, knows it.
Since high school, he drinks every weekend with his friends.
Gradually, he increased his consumption.
Until arriving at a liter of whiskey per evening.
“The only effects I had was a little dizziness and fatigue.
It was then that I understood that I absolutely had to stop.
"
Not knowing when to stop
For Baptiste, a 30-year-old alcohol addict, addiction is not a question of frequency or quantity.
“Sometimes I didn't drink for three days, but every time I started drinking I couldn't stop.
"
This irrepressible need to continue to drink alcohol can be explained scientifically.
“When APIs are repeated, in the long term, they will sensitize the limbic system, the area of the brain that will manage the feeling of satiety,” explains the addictologist.
When a person is thirsty and drinks, they are normally no longer thirsty.
But in sensitized people, “satiety will be stimulated and then gradually be lost and they will drink until they fall.
"
Not being able to do without
"There is also a psychological and behavioral dependence", continues Philippe Batel. “Areas in which we immediately look for alcohol. Baptiste looked everywhere for the drink. "I alternated between my groups of friends to have people every night to drink with," says the author of the book
To have too much toast my life has stopped
. In high school, Maria, who is now 23, could drink during the day in parks with her friends. Ella has long considered alcohol to be “a cool little medoc”. “When I'm in the evening, I drink. When I have a problem, I see a friend and I drink. When I'm bored, I join a friend and drink. "
"The fact of saying to yourself 'I absolutely can not show up in a club if I have not loaded myself before' is revealing", considers the addictologist.
A sentence that Julien * said to himself before each evening.
And evenings, he did it regularly.
The law student became aware of his addiction a few weeks ago.
“Since the start of the health crisis, I started drinking alone at home, just to decompress.
"Since then, he tries to stop but is afraid to crack because" the temptation is very strong, especially in student parties.
“77% of young people drink before going to the evening, according to a survey carried out by the Federation of General Student Associations (Fage) in 2014. But they are not all dependent.
What matters is being able to do without it.
The "big school syndrome"
“A good way to answer the question“ where am I? ”Is to take an abstinence test, like the dry january,” explains Philippe Batel. These test periods make it possible to realize his dependence. If the cases of addiction remain rare among young people, according to the addictologist, massive and regular alcoholizations young considerably increase the risk of being dependent later. “When APIs are repeated, over the long term, they will sensitize the limbic system, which is looking for pleasure, a cerebral reward. When this awareness is done on a brain in the process of being formed, before the age of 25, it can emerge much later, during stress and this can develop an addiction. "
The addictologists speak of the "syndrome of the grandes écoles", referring to the young people of reputable higher education schools who follow the OB (open bar) from Thursday evening.
“They are particularly at risk because they will experience extremely high professional stress in the years to come.
They may, at 35 or 40, when they are at the peak of their careers, develop an addiction.
"
Young alcohol addiction exists
"We must therefore worry about its consumption long before realizing that we are dependent," insists the psychiatrist.
“Alcohol not only damages a brain that is being built, but also a life that is being built.
We considerably reduce our ability to learn and therefore we have less good integration into social life.
"
All the numbers of "My head and me"
Baptiste, who dropped out of school at the age of 21 due to his addiction, attests to this.
“Moving forward in life had become impossible for me.
I was stuck with one goal: to drink more.
Today sober, he helps people suffering from addictions at Bichat hospital in Paris.
“I want to convey this message that youthful alcoholism exists.
But if you realize it young, you can get out of it young and have a life ahead of you.
"
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20 seconds of context
* These first names have been changed to preserve the anonymity of people who testify.
Health
20 minutes video
Addiction
Youth
Society
My head and me
Alcohol
Alcoholism