In recent weeks, the stormy political climate and the threat of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) coming to power in France have intruded into psychiatrist Myriam Cayemittes' practice. Carried by foreign patients who dread the rejection of their application for asylum or accommodation. By those who have lived in France for a long time and fear losing their jobs or having to leave. "The fear, too, of a loss of inhibition of the racist speech and acts with which we are already confronted, as if the results of the first round had been an authorization to say and do," explained Cayemittes.
Cayemittes is also the president of Parole sans Frontière. Founded in 1991 on the initiative of two Strasbourg psychiatrists, the charity provides consultations to migrants who are "victims of torture, political violence and mental suffering due to exile," she explained. Too often, the mental health of refugees is neglected, taking second place to material emergencies and legal issues.
Today, the team of around 10 people welcomes over 100 patients (there are a further 70 on the waiting list). The sessions take place with interpreters, who remain the same throughout. Far from being translators or cultural mediators, they "must leave room for the patient's subjectivity," explained Cayemittes. On the second floor of this building in the city center, in the association's reception room, a rack loaded with clothes and hot drinks are available.
Sona Mkrtoumian is the first to come into contact with visitors at the practice. As soon as the RN's high scores in the European elections were announced, worried people confided in her. The social worker's background resonates with theirs. An Armenian from Russia, she arrived in France alone at the age of 16. Although relieved by the results of the second round of voting, the young woman, who comes from a family that fled the genocide in Turkey to live in Russia, has been taken back to her painful past in recent weeks.
The prospect of an absolute RN majority shook the entire association, which is funded by public money (regional health agency, city, interior ministry etc.). "The strong surge of the far right played a big part of our discussions," said Cayemittes, describing a team in shock. "It was hard to contain our anxiety and still be supportive of our patients. Even though the RN hasn't quite got its way, there's definitely still this idea that 40% of French society rejects them."
Over the past few years, a number of workshops have been set up, including the relaxation practice of sophrology – one of which is reserved for female victims of sexual violence – and sculpture, for adults and teenagers. These activities are both recreational and therapeutic. Cayemittes explained: "In the Western world, the spoken word is inherently liberating, but for those whose experience is different, this is not always the case, and language can create suffering." She also pointed to the incessant demands from institutions, which expect "credible" and repeated stories in order to obtain asylum or any other application. "We have to use other means to access the unconscious of certain patients, to ease their anxieties."
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