UCC hosts a major mental health conference tomorrow and Thursday and in advance of the conference Bryan McElroy, an Irish GP working in the NHS, says Ireland needs to examine its approach to antidepressants.

A lack of psychological and social therapies for people with mental health difficulties is partly to blame for high prescribing rates for antidepressants. That’s according to doctors addressing the Oireachtas joint health committee on foot of recent media reports on overuse of prescription drugs.

A young man had such a quantity of anti-depressants, relaxants and alcohol that he could not remember breaking into a café at Blackrock village in Cork in the early hours of the morning.