Four children settle cases over claims they were over-medicated by South Kerry Camhs
HSE pays out €196,000 in cases taken over Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs)
Mental health
It’s time for a reality check about certain ‘weight loss’ drugs, and here’s why
Much hype surrounds drugs called GLP-1 agonists but they are intended for diabetes patients and people who are obese, not those who just want to lose a few pounds
Patrick Freyne: I am becoming a demotivational speaker – let’s all have an averagely productive December
I keep meeting people who are extremely burned out. I meet them so often that I’m beginning to think burnout is something that exists by design
Coping at Christmas: ‘Not being a mother hurts more at Christmas, when a large part of the world is focused on a birth’
Not everyone likes the festive season, but there are ways to light up what can be the darkest time of year
Mental health in Ireland: ‘Should we not be helping people before they get down to the breakdown stage?’
Generational health: Support services ‘are well hidden and the services are already under pressure’
When people say ‘you’re mature for your age’, I resist the urge to reply ‘thanks, it’s the trauma’
I grew up as a ‘glass child’, and ‘parentification’ was one result of this, along with people-pleasing, perfectionism and always putting myself last
Women, older and single people stay longer in psychiatric hospitals, research finds
Being married, widowed, or divorced is associated with a ‘significantly’ lower length of stay
How do I find love while still living at home in rural Ireland?
Ask Roe: ‘Living in a rural area, without my own space, I feel stuck in a rut in terms of meeting people’
No shame in solitude - the science and power of being alone
Academic and author Netta Weinstein says that since the average adult spends up to a third of their time alone, it’s important to understand how solitude differs from loneliness
Irish Times journalist wins award for coverage of mental health
Orlagh Lally spoke to Malachy Clerkin about mental health struggles and the death of her friend
‘I feel lost and lonely. I have begun to think there’s no reason for me here anymore … do any other people feel this way?’
Tell Me About It: It is not easy to make genuine connections, but all of this starts with spending time with people you either admire or share an interest with
‘It’s given me the motivation to say, I’m not just a mam stuck at home with a disability who can’t do stuff’: Social enterprise Town Scientist
Sessions developed by engineer, scientist, writer and performer Dr Niamh Shaw inspire parents to start new conversations around the kitchen table
Dermot Whelan: ‘Mindfulness isn’t a cult. We don’t have to get naked and cover ourselves in hummus’
Dermot Whelan made the choice to walk away from radio in order to focus on wellness, his own and other people’s. He doesn’t regret it, he tells Róisín Ingle
How schools can be crucial in nurturing children’s mental health
Generational health: Teachers are at the front end of supporting children in their education, wellbeing and safety. They’re witnessing a rise in anxiety and mental health concerns
Cutting off family members: ‘It had never occurred to me that you could grieve somebody who was still alive’
In an age of constant communication, the decision to go ‘no contact’ with a family member is more noticeable, but there is still sometimes too much societal judgement of those who take such a serious decision
Young adult mental health: ‘Stigma and embarrassment still play a significant role in reluctance to seek help’
Generational health: Community and youth organisations taking up the cause and being proactive
Comedian Rachel Galvo: ‘Anyone can tell I have not been through many hardships, I’m a very privileged person’
Up-and-coming comedian Rachel Galvo talks mental health, finding her feet and being a Shite Feminist
Youth mental health: ‘What we need to try and do is break the stigma attached to talking about it’
Limited funding, staffing pressures and increasing demand make provision of mental health services to the public a major task
Stories give us the superpower to protect ourselves from darkness
When we fill our evenings with books, movies, soaps and chats, we’re just doing what we’ve always done
Stop doomscrolling and read this instead. Your brain will thank you
A neuropsychologist on how to cope when the world is in turmoil
Enoch Burke is someone I’d like to hug
Unthinkable: Ahead of International Men’s Day, it’s clear many young men are not in a happy place
‘They think they’re no good and that they shouldn’t be in this world’
Traveller activist and storyteller Chrissy Donoghue Ward speaks about the importance of how her community is represented publicly
Eating disorders now main reason behind children’s admission for psychiatric care
Prevalence among under-18s ‘extremely concerning’ says mental health expert
Mother of vulnerable teen brings court action against HSE and Tusla
Legal action seeks a declaration that both agencies are in breach of their statutory duties towards the boy
We know a lot about the 40 homeless people who died in Dublin. So what are we going to do about it?
If they didn’t die on the streets then they probably died in a hostel. Two thirds of them would have died alone
Your work questions answered: ‘My work is all-consuming. I am finding myself reaching burnout. What can I do?’
A series where we ask experts in all aspects of workplace engagement to give us their views and solutions on issues driving conflict or upset for employees
‘The whole adult world is sold as a bright, shiny thing but it’s actually a sad and lonely place’
Tell Me About It: Am I the common denominator and are people staying away from me? I’d hardly blame them
Who cares for the carers? ‘If I was going to be able to help Tony I needed to get my own life back on track’
Learning how to care for yourself when caring for someone with a life-threatening or life-limiting condition is a necessity, not a luxury
‘Our 16-year-old daughter has stopped going to school regularly – should we take her phone away?’
Ask the Expert: Her school says she is always on her phone and not getting enough sleep, but she disagrees
I thought that after a month of not drinking, my relationship with alcohol would fix itself. I was wrong
The idea that a month of abstinence can help you regain control and become a ‘better drinker’ is a myth for any alcoholic
‘Children as young as five are saying they would prefer to die’: Irish doctors say Gaza children are ‘retraumatised’
Children caught in the crossfire of the war are suffering an ‘unfathomable’ psychological impact
HHC vapes: ‘It only took a few puffs to turn him completely zombie-like’
Hexahydrocannabinol, a legal cannabis substitute, is causing severe psychosis in some young men
Children in poorer areas far more likely to develop severe mental health difficulties, says professor
Prof Susan Smith says evidence shows need for a national health inequity strategy
Mental health: ‘Although we talk a lot in Ireland, I think we don’t say very much’
If you feel sad all the time or stop deriving joy from the things you love, it’s time to seek help
Work issues a factor in mental health problems for over one third, survey finds
Annual survey was carried out ahead of World Mental Health Day on Thursday
‘My nine-year-old is starting to be self-conscious about her body, which worries me’
Ask the Expert: The best way to check if your daughter’s development is healthy is to measure her height and weight so you can assess her BMI
Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch: ‘I had a tough time, a physical and mental breakdown. The thing I clung on to was the book’
The Belle and Sebastian frontman’s debut novel, Nobody’s Empire, draws on his own experiences, including of ME. Part travelogue and memoir, it’s also a love letter to his favourite music
I scrawl on the cinema bathroom wall: ‘Anyone else find friendship in their 40s hard?’
I miss the solidarity of the women’s bathroom in nightclubs, where strangers became best friends for those brief moments that always seemed to last a lifetime
‘I got 550 points in my Leaving Cert. I’ve always had this feeling that I had a purpose in life’
The second-year law student at University of Galway on discrimination she has faced as a Traveller and how education became her refuge
‘I refuse to accept the horror that has become the status quo’: what did politicians say when students wrote to them about their lives?
Simon Harris, Micheál Martin, Holly Cairns and others reply to letters from students and recent graduates on the key issues they face today
‘You see coke every second night you’re out’: students and drugs on campus
Third-level student says smoking weed is so normalised you might need to make an excuse for not wanting to smoke
Mental health funding ‘piecemeal, inadequate and short-sighted’, charities say
Persistent underfunding is having a long-term impact on the mental health system, says Mental Health Reform interim chief executive Philip Watt
Addiction and healing: ‘All of the things that you chase for happiness don’t actually make you happy’
Síolta, co-founded by Hannah Bowler and Wayne Dignam, is a co-operative of wellbeing practitioners aimed at enabling growth and connection
Do we understand what the Irish education system is doing to our young people?
Use of technology in schools has increased exponentially since the Covid-19 pandemic but why is there so little discussion around it, apart from the continuing debate about smartphones?
All the lonely men: how to survive the ‘friendship recession’
Men are facing a crisis of loneliness. Rethinking the shape and structure of their friendships can help
An Irish man in California: what I did first notice was how people talk about themselves. Compared to the typical older Irish man
The ubiquity of therapy in Berkeley infuses the words people use and their lifestyles with an odd deliberateness
Cannabis-like drug causing severe psychosis in young men, College of Psychiatrists warn
Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) is legal in Ireland and commonly available in the form of vapes or added to jellies or chocolate
Housing charity aiding people with mental health problems calls for funding boost
Record number last year assisted by Hail which is providing an ‘essential’ service for the State, says chief executive
Pieta says it may not be able to continue mental health services without Government funds
Cost of running suicide prevention and counselling group stands at some €17m a year, mostly paid for by ‘generous donors and dedicated supporters’
Young people are the canaries in the coalmine of modern society – just look at the CAO
Mental health difficulties have traditionally been understood at the level of the individual and their immediate family. That has changed, and the crisis is global
Why Sweden recommends that very young children should not have access to any digital devices
Swedish public health authorities aim to promote healthy development but some experts wonder whether parts of the guidance are unrealistic
My friend’s effortless joyful incompetence sets an example that’s difficult to match
It’s an interesting challenge to start something without the aim of mastering it
Staff in ‘distress’ over plight of chronically mentally ill prisoners in jails
About 40% of women in Dóchas prison at any time are on remand pending trial, visiting committee found
Calls for addiction to be treated as a mental health issue
Probation expert says homelessness and addiction are almost like ‘manifestations of mental health difficulties’
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