Disrupted sleep, anxiety, increased mortality: grief has consequences comparable to a "tsunami" on physical and mental health, warn associations and professionals who urge the State to address this still taboo issue.
"Grief is absolutely not taken into account today; it is made invisible, even denied," Nathalie Hanet, president of the Empreintes association, which is organizing the third conference on mourning in Paris on Friday, told AFP.
"When you lose a loved one, not only are you thrown into an administrative shambles, but you also have no information about what awaits you" in terms of health, she adds.
However, "grief is a tsunami," emphasizes Alain Sauteraud, a psychiatrist specializing in the psychology of grief and author of "Living After Your Death" (Odile Jacob). "You significantly alter your health for at least a year in all areas of human physiology."
According to the Crédoc 2025 barometer on French people facing grief, the results of which were published at the conference, almost half (47%) of bereaved people report having increased their consumption of medication and 44% their consumption of alcohol or tobacco.
Nearly six out of ten bereaved people report suffering from depressive episodes, while eight out of ten report experiencing unusual exhaustion or physical pain. For more than one in five French people, the pain or exhaustion was "intense."
Even more seriously, 10% of the bereaved report that they contracted an illness or that an illness worsened following the death.
– State of withdrawal –
Studies have shown that "widowers and widows double their mortality in the year following the loss of their spouse, regardless of age," reports Alain Sauteraud. Another study on perinatal bereavement showed that "the early mortality of parents was multiplied up to four times the normal rate and that they did not recover their normal mortality rate until 20 years later."
Studies have also pointed to sleep problems.
In terms of mental health, while for most bereaved people the psychological reactions generally fade a year after the death, 11% of French people – according to Credoc – are likely to experience a “prolonged grief disorder”.
"It's when the state of missing the deceased continues beyond a year," explains Alain Sauteraud. "If at that point people continue to feel unwell, it means that the grieving process is blocked and this requires specific follow-up."
– The “weight” of loss –
When she suddenly lost her mother 10 years ago, Camille, who was 17 at the time, had no idea what awaited her.
"The first few years, I was on automatic mode, then three years later I suddenly had intense back pain and stomach aches," she says. "I didn't understand where it came from until I realized it was psychosomatic, the weight of grief over losing my mother," she adds, also reporting "memory loss" and "insecurity" that sometimes impacted her relationships with others.
The young designer admits to having sometimes felt "helpless", not knowing where to turn, until one evening when she was "feeling bad" she came across a support group which allowed her to talk "with people who had experienced essentially the same thing".
A feeling of isolation felt by many bereaved people according to associations who deplore the lack of a prevention and support policy from the State.
"We are preaching in the desert," says Alain Sauteraud, who says he does not have "the feeling that the issue is of great interest" in high places.
In 2023, Emmanuel Macron spoke of the need to "renew the policy of bereavement support." This issue was also mentioned in the proposed law on palliative care—a "huge step forward," notes Laurence Picque, president of the European Federation for Grief and Loss.
"But this is only the first step," she adds, advocating training for health professionals and "basic information for all bereaved people."
"We have to stop acting as if we're not all going to die and that we're not all going to experience grief," insists Nathalie Hanet. "It's a public health issue."
English 
French