France: associations are alarmed by the increase in suicides among the gendarmes
In May, a member of the Republican Guard - part of the Gendarmerie - ended his life inside the Élysée Palace.
Here, a gendarme in Ouistreham, December 13, 2021. © Sameer al-Doumy / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
Since January 2022, fifteen gendarmes have killed themselves in France, three more than for the whole of 2021. If suicides in the ranks of the gendarmerie are not new, their increase worries associations, some cases becoming emblematic like a Republican Guard who ended his life in the very heart of the Élysée Palace.
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Days and sustained pace, working hours that follow one another, increasingly physical, even stressful interventions: these are all stress factors and for the gendarmes, it sometimes becomes
difficult to resist the pressure
.
Impact on family life
David Ramos is the president of the association for the defense of the interests of the gendarmes GendXXI: "
There is also a notion necessarily linked to the impact with family life because the two are intimately linked, you know that the gendarmes live on their place of employment, and therefore necessarily there is no clear cut between the professional sphere and the personal sphere
.
»
Clinical psychologists
Support has been put in place.
The gendarmes can, for example, consult clinical psychologists.
These seek to detect the factors of fragility: possible economic problems, or the illness of a family member.
The device can in certain cases impose the consultation with a psychologist, even prohibit the possession of a weapon.
►Also listen:
Who to turn to when you think of suicide?
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