Interview with Boris Sirulnik | “I’m in my teens”

Nathalie Collard
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Nathalie Collard (N.C.): Your latest book will be published in Quebec in early March.¹, You are interested in the influence of different environments (maternal pregnancy, society, environment పై) on the development of individuals. You have devoted many pages to adolescents and their suffering. How to explain?

Boris Sirulnik: Adolescence is a delicate period in the existence of all human beings because it is the age at which sexual desire arises. You have to leave your family. At this age the pride of becoming independent arises and once again you have to leave your family. However, in our epidemic adventure, adolescents are trapped with their families, in an environment where they cannot leave. So they are left small. They get dissatisfied, they get upset, they depend on their parents. And they correspond to instability in confinement in front of screens. The screens make them cramp, allowing them to suffer less. But they all stop the nervous and mental development.

N. C .: How is development affected?

B. C .: There has been a lot of talk about the negative impact of screens on children, but this is also very true in adolescence, because at this age, there is a sensitive period at the nerve level, which is synaptic pruning. The brains of boys and girls are transmitted under the influence of the pressures of the environment, be it the office, the university atmosphere or the group of friends we are playing party or sport with. The adolescent brain adapts to this environment and, once pruned, works economically by assembling fewer neurons. Adolescents isolated by the pandemic lose this circuiting process. If the restraint does not last long, some of them will be able to work it out, but it will take effort to start the process of resilience.

N.C .: Would you say that the most suffering from the consequences of the epidemic today is in adolescence?

B.C .: Initially, I presented the hypothesis that boys drop out of school faster than girls. We know that they are two years ahead of the neuropsychological level compared to boys, which explains some of their good academic outcomes. Their development is rapid [en France, on voit certaines petites filles qui ont leurs règles très tôt, à 8 ans], Which makes them more anxious. Back in age [autour de 17, 18 ans], They have completed the growing fatigue and know how to plan their day. It is very difficult to estimate the puberty of boys, but what is now well estimated is that by the age of 12, the neuropsychological delay for them is two years. When they cross their baccalaureate, they are in full growth fatigue. They are still big kids. School makes them more dissatisfied, so they drop out more than girls.

However, this is not happening during this epidemic. The first surveys to reach France and Belgium show that, unlike what we had, girls drop out more than boys. And this is a very large number: 30 to 40% of adolescents are depressed, no longer know what to do, watch television to suffer less from cramps … and miss the delicate period of synapse pruning.

N. C .: How to prevent this cramp when there is detention and curfew?

B. C.: I have instructed our family and education ministers to make the detention as low as possible for adolescents. I do not worry about babies, for example, if their mother is safe, she is safe for the baby, they will not experience the bad effects of the pandemic. Teenagers, on the other hand, consider them terrible. The longer the detention, the more permanently the neurological disorders settle down. So it is important to try not to confine teenagers or allow them to go out. Of course, meetings, parties and Parties.

N.C .: Parents who read this will be offended by your words. Can we repair the damage?

B. C .: Yes, if we keep solution methods. It is proposed to create “third positions” in relation to the school environment, among other things, such as open spaces, open spaces or large gyms, areas where the virus is less prevalent. Teaching posts increase by telling older students to work with younger students. Small cells should develop where the adult oversees six to eight young. We can manage this without the virus spreading and it will allow us to resume life stimulation and start the process of resilience in youth. Because the longer we wait, the harder it is to stimulate resilience. The faster our ministers make these decisions, the quicker they will be implemented and the more resilient they will be.

N.C .: It’s worrying, what are you saying …

B. C .: Yes, it’s worrying. We are in a state of disaster.

¹ Spirits and Seasons – Psycho-Ecology Editions will be published by Odile Jacob in March. A full review of the book will appear when it is released.