Postgraduate students in France feel compelled to push on despite the toll of Covid-19 restrictions on their mental health.

Confined to her single-bedroom apartment in Aix-en-Provence, engulfed in “an endless repetitive cycle” of work and social isolation, 23-year-old Laura Delabre has contemplated seeing a shrink. She is but one of France’s 2.7 million students who have had to cope with months of isolation and online Zoom classes causing symptoms of burnout, loss of motivation, and anxiety.

Yet, as the end of the academic year looms ahead, this postgraduate student in translation and interpretation has chosen to push on despite the toll on her mental health, neglecting a work-life balance. “I’m sacrificing my mental health in order to graduate. It’s paradoxical to have to choose between your mental health and your degree,” said Delabre. 

Students under heavy psychological distress

With no reprieve from coronavirus in sight, concern has been mounting in France about students’ mental health. Last week, President Emmanuel Macron announced new measures to alleviate the “deep sense of isolation” and to address students’ psychological distress after months of exclusively online courses. As of February 1, first-year students can return to campus once a week, with classes at half-capacity, and mental health subsidies will be made available for professional counseling services.

In order to cope, postgraduate students are grasping at the few lifelines at their disposal. Some, like Emma Flacard, have returned to their family home. “So far I’ve been relying on my family and friends. It never occurred to me that what I was feeling was so unbearable that I would need to speak with a professional,” said Flacard, a bilingual journalism student at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. Others, like Margaux Alendroit, 23, have turned to resources set up by her university in Toulouse. “I subscribed to the free one-month trial of “Mind”, a guided meditation mobile app, and listened to some of the meditation sessions, but it wasn’t really helping,” said Alendroit, a communication and territories student at UT3. 

Looking to the future

Frédérique Vidal, minister of higher education, announced on Friday the return of in-person classes for all students, one day a week, starting early February. University students have been working from the confines of their studios or bedrooms except for a brief six-week period from September to mid-October. This news comes as a relief for Alison Eteka, 24 : “Even if we’re digital natives, distance learning is really starting to take its toll”. 

Despite being weighed down by the sense of uncertainty caused by the health crisis, postgraduate students remain focused on wrapping up their final year of university, and completing their mandatory internship. For Flacard, this is another source of anxiety : “We’re graduating at a time when professionnel prospects are limited. Most companies don’t even know if they’re hiring interns yet!”

The only light at the end of the tunnel for these postgraduate students are their post-coronavirus plans : travelling, eating out at restaurants, going to raves, and pole-dancing to drop “Covid kilos”. In the meantime, « all we can do is live day to day,” said digital marketing and brand content student, Alison Eteka.

Sienna Barnes

Photo: PDomainPhotos/flickr/CC0 1.0

Cet article a été écrit dans le cadre du cours Writing for the Press en février 2021.