Of interest from media
A delegation from the Royal College of Physicians led by Prof Frank Murray made a pre-parliamentary presentation to more than 30 Fine Gael TDs and Senators in late November about the impact alcohol abuse has had on the health services. Incoming president of the College of Psychiatrists Dr John Hillery was among the speakers including […]
Dr John Hillery spoke on both Tipp FM and Limerick’s Live 95FM in relation to CPsychI concerns that people in acute mental distress will not seek help due to misleading media reports about the cost of mental health services. CPsychI released a press statement that attempted to correct some of the issues reported, in particular the fact that Public Mental […]
Press Statement: 13th December 2016 The College of Psychiatrists is concerned that some quotations in the papers yesterday and subsequent online and broadcast coverage of same, attributed to Mrs Majella O’Donnell, give a misleading impression to people with mental health problems about mental health services and may deter those in extreme mental distress from seeking […]
Director of Communications and Public Education Dr John Hillery spoke on RTE’s Today with Sean O’Rourke on the use of medical cannabis following a bill to legalise the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes which was passed by the Dáil last night. The bill, which was put forward by People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, will […]
Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher spoke to Rolling Stone about how electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) helped her finally overcome depression. “At the time I was depressed, and it ended the depression. I couldn’t fix it. Medication couldn’t fix it. Therapy couldn’t fix it. That did.” Fisher also highlighted the misconceptions surrounding the treatment; “Oh, everything (about electric […]
A Health Research Board funded study by researchers in Trinity College Dublin’s School of Nursing and Midwifery has revealed a wide range of hidden health problems facing mothers, affecting their mental, physical and sexual health. The MAMMI (Maternal Health and Maternal Morbidity in Ireland study) is a multi-strand, multi-center cohort study investigating prevalence and risk factors […]
In a Personal View recently published in the British Medical Journal Martha Balinska aims to differentiate between “existential hardship and overt mental illness“: Someone with major depressive disorder or psychosis is not going to get better simply by meditating or going for a brisk walk. The problem may be semantics. Speaking of mental illness rather than disease is […]
With 55,000 Irish people living with dementia, and half a million living in families affected by dementia the launch of the National Dementia Awareness Campaign – Understand Together was welcomed by Minister for Mental Health and Older People Helen McEntee who stressed the importance of this scheme: Each year 4,000 people in Ireland develop a […]
Following 7 years of writing Bruce Springsteen has released his autobiography Born to Run, in which the singer voices his battle with depression. Lifting the curtain on his demons Springsteen recounts how his father had a mental illness, and didn’t come to realise the gravity of his depression until later in life with him entering a period of major depression in his 60s. “I couldn’t […]
Minister of State for Communities and the National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne TD, has announced details of a public consultation on the new National Drugs Strategy which will set out Government policy on tackling the drug problem from 2017 onwards. The Department is seeking the views of the public and all interested parties on the drugs situation in […]