The OPRA Barometer (Observatory of mental health PRACTICES) 2026 presents results from a national survey on mental health practices, focused on key practices in psychiatry for the year 2025. Supported by the Observatory of Mental Health Practices (OPRA), it is based on a voluntary approach bringing together people concerned, relatives, professionals and researchers. The report highlights significant room for progress in the fight against stigmatizing practices and in the recognition of true horizontality in support. It also shows that the quality of life at work for teams constitutes a central issue, because it directly influences the quality of the practices offered to the people supported.
What are the “ concrete practices » in establishments, in psychiatry? This is what the OPRA Barometer strives to question (Observatory of mental health PRACTICES), whose latest national distribution made it possible to collect 2,050 surveyed profiles, including 1,098 professionals, 614 supported people and 338 relatives.
Overview of the most notable results
Among the notable results, the co-construction of support, effective access to rights, professional peer support and advance directives in psychiatry still appear insufficiently developed. The barometer nevertheless highlights several positive points, such as the dissemination of the discourse on recovery and a more visible presence of certain practices that respect people.
The entire report defends a reading of practices based on the combined perspectives of the main actors concerned by psychiatry. It presents itself as a tool for knowledge, debate and transformation, serving practices
in mental health that are fairer, more humane and more recovery-oriented.
• Quality of life at work : one in 6 professionals has rarely or never experienced a good quality of life at work. Only a large third of professionals report having often experienced a good quality of life at work. The quality of life at work conditions the application of professional practices that respect everyone. The literature reports decisive correlations for the field: poor quality of life at work is associated with more stigmatizing practices and more obstacles to changing practices. This poor quality of life at work is directly associated with professional burnout. Quality of life at work is therefore a mental health issue for those supported AND for professionals.
• The OPRA Barometer shows that by 2025, nearly one in four supported people report having faced stigmatizing practices. Zooming in on professionals, 23% report having observed stigmatizing practices in their teams in 2025. As much for professionals as for decision-makers, this result calls for reducing stigmatization in practices, notes the report.
• Regarding empathy Almost all professionals assure that they have shown empathy in their support in 2025. And it is a large majority of the people supported and their loved ones who agree with them on this point. However, by 2025, 18% of people supported have rarely or never seen professionals show them empathy. These results encourage a better understanding of the contexts in
in which empathy is rarely or never perceived.
• Regarding horizontalityalmost all professionals assure that they have considered people
accompanied as their equals, symmetrically, horizontally. On this point, two thirds of the sample of
relatives and accompanied people join them. However, by 2025, 1 in 3 supported people have never observed a horizontal posture among professionals. These results directly question the relationships of domination that take place in the Accompanying/Accompanied relationship in psychiatry.
• The rights approach is one of the least contested positions in psychiatric practices. Based on the principles of respect for human dignity as provided for in national and international rights, the rights-based approach is above the fray of dogmas and other factional wars. In 2025, among our professional respondents, 92% suggested that accompanied people exercise their rights, but this proposal was only heard by a third of supported people and their loved ones.
• In 2025, among professional respondents, 76% said that people in psychological distress can recover. 59% of the people supported and their loved ones heard.
• If half of the professionals ensure that their team offers to meet a professional peer helper, only 15% of people and relatives report having heard this proposal. Note that 4% of professionals and 15% of people and relatives are not aware of peer support.
Quel objectif de ce baromètre ?
Il vise à fournir des données sur des pratiques de terrain insondées jusqu’à présent. S’il existe des données officielles sur le nombre d’entrées et de sortie en hôpital psychiatrique, ou encore sur le recours à l’isolement et à la contention, il n’existait pas jusqu’à lors des sondages nationaux sur des pratiques essentielles et des postures professionnelles. Nous avons donc interrogé une dizaine de pratiques de la psychiatrie
adulte en termes de fréquence. Ces pratiques ne disposant pas de recueil statistique systématique, un baromètre des pratiques n’atteint pas un idéal d’objectivité. C’est la raison pour laquelle nous avons décidé de croiser les regards subjectifs des principaux observateur·rice·s de ces pratiques.
To find out more:
• OPRA Barometer 2026, Key practices in psychiatry, Report published by the proSpairs Association via its Observatory of Mental Health Practices (OPRA), Publication 2026.
