Attacks on knives, altercations in the street, night brawls … Everywhere, in France, various facts on this subject multiply. Wild attacks between adolescents seem to “trivialize”, to the point that the government has decided to prohibit the sale to minors of “Any knife that can constitute a weapon”. But in fact, have our young people really become “barbarians”, as some dare to qualify them? How to explain this rise in violence in colleges and high schools? Dr. Serge Hefez, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and author of the book “Gender questions”, gives us some precious elements of answer.
A port of weapons that are commonplace?
In the media or on networks, it is impossible to escape it: there is not a week without a drama being relayed. A deadly aggression of a supervisor by a college student in Nogent (Haute-Marne), murder of a high school student in Nantes, killed with 57 stabs by another pupil … “The enautement” of our society and our young people seems almost inevitable.
In just two months of control (from March 26 to May 26, 2025), at least 186 knives were seized and 32 people were placed in police custody, also confirmed the Ministry of the Interior in its latest assessment.
But should we give in to fatalism? How to explain such acts and above all, how to defuse this violence? If the subject remains sensitive – and complex – Dr. Serge Hefez tells us that there is still time “To act.”
“Young people evolve in a world cut off from reality”
If violence occupies such a place among young people, it would be because … new images they have before their eyes.
“”Biberinized by screens, social networks, video games …. and now artificial intelligence, young people evolve in a world cut off from reality. Their relationship to reality is increasingly disturbed. We saw it with the adolescence series, which has retained the attention of Elisabeth Borne – wishing to broadcast it to all parents. How to explain that a young person, who presents no psychiatric disorder, who is not violent, who succeeds in school, can give 10 or 20 stabs to someone? This disorder of relation to reality affects many young people and especially many young boys. They do not necessarily have family problems, no violent past, nothing that would make them rock … And yet, they take action “, recognizes the expert. “Now, what makes it possible is the tilting in another dimension.”
Ruminated humiliation, a feeling of revenge, and suddenly … They change their dimension.
“They lose ground with reality, enter a world of hyperviolence … And this is where the acting occurs. Without empathy and without regret. This very lack of understanding of what death, mourning, suffering, is linked to this” derealization. “Many young people no longer make the difference between the virtual world and the real world”, alerts the psychiatrist, who admits being afraid “for the future. “
Indeed, to try to disarm youth, a massive and global prevention must be implemented. “”Because it is not just a question of education. A real educational and health alliance must be created. And may everyone start: school, family, mental health professionals, companies. We must build a shield to protect our young people. “
As for the restriction of social and portable networks at school, “She is crucial, but not enough”, underlines the specialist. Prevention must be generalized everywhere in the territory, “In order to show young people the dangers. Why not also create groups of speaking between parents, which can promote dialogue?”, advocates the psychoanalyst. Before concluding: “On social networks, young people feel a lot of emotions … but they do not share them. These are unnecessary and unused emotions: they accumulate in them. A real explosive reservoir … which has become a massive phenomenon“, alerts the doctor.