June 28, 2010
Mental Ill Health
Clare People, 22-Jun-2010
Clare farmers are literally working themselves to death by allowing their mental and physical wellbeing come second to the farm and animals. According to Clare ICMSA chairperson Martin McMahon, there is a generation of bachelor farmers whose circumstances have led to them becoming lonely, isolated and eventually suicidal. According to the study of farmer's mental health, 57 per cent of Irish farmers would not want others to know if they had a mental health problem.
Irish Independent, 21-Jun-2010
Patients with serious conditions like eating disorders and depression are at the mercy of unqualified psychotherapists who operate without licence or regulation. Some so-called therapists are treating clients with serious mental and emotional problems despite having no formal education beyond a short training course. The Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) is urging the Department of Health to regulate the industry.
Irish Daily Mail, 19-Jun-2010
A food supplement that keeps postnatal depression at bay is being developed by psychiatrists.
Mental Health Service
Report reveals gaps in child psychiatric services
Roscommon Herald, 25/06/10
The psychiatric unit at Roscommon County Hospital is not suitable for the admission of children under the age of 18, according to a new report, which has recommended that the admission of children to the unit cease.
“Inhumane conditions” at St. Senan’s Hospital
Wexford Echo, 24/06/10
ST. Senan’s Hospital, Enniscorthy has been ranked amongst the worst in the country, in a Mental Health Inspector’s Report. The Report of the Inspector of Mental Health Services 2009 concluded that the hospital needs to be closed down and its patients should be accommodated in modern facilities, describing “inhumane conditions” there.
Irish Examiner, 23-Jun-2010
More than half of all consultant psychiatrists working in Ireland have been physically assaulted by their patients, with one in five stating they feel "stalked" while on duty. A study of the profession has found that despite promised safety improvements in the aftermath of a 2008 double stabbing at a mental health facility, doctors are continuing to be put at risk.
Health authorities have yet to finalise plans on where to accommodate more than 1,000 urgent psychiatric admissions after they were ordered to cease taking new patients into sub-standard mental hospitals.
For four years now, government policy has been to close down the state’s old psychiatric hospitals. In each of those years, the reports of the Inspectorate of Mental Health Services have confirmed that many of these are unfit places for human beings to be housed.
Suicide Prevention
Irish Independent, 21-Jun-2010
Euthanasia cases in Holland increased by 13pc in the past year, new figures reveal. Last year, a total of 2,636 Dutch people died by assisted suicide, with 8Ope of cases involving people dying at home after their doctors administered a lethal dose of drugs. This compared with 2,331 reported deaths in 2008. In 2003, when Holland legalised the practice, there were 1,815 cases.
