The Medical Council has issued guidelines to doctors for the prescribing of benzodiazepine medications. The document equates the use of benzodiazepines with opiates and warns doctors that any inappropriate prescribing will be negatively viewed by the council.

The Cannabis Risk Alliance, a group of 20 senior doctors from across the medical community, has said cannabis is now the most common illegal drug involved in new treatment episodes in the country’s addiction centres and psychiatric hospitals.

Sorcha O’Malley, had begun restricting her food intake at age 12 and was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa at age 22. She died at 31.

New research showing how simple techniques can reduce stress and alleviate pelvic and back pain during pregnancy is to be unveiled at a public seminar in Cork tomorrow.

Patients with bed sores, patients sleeping on mattresses, lack of access to therapies — all feature in the litany of failings criticised by inspectors in the latest reports from the Mental Health Commission.

Children continue to be admitted to adult mental health units because of a shortage of beds in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Two mental health units have been criticised by the Mental Health Commission for shortcomings, including deficiencies on the use of physical restraint and dirty premises.

The HSE has been criticised for admitting 21 children to an adult acute psychiatric unit where more than half the staff did not have up-to-date training in Children First, the national guidance for safeguarding children.

A psychiatric patient spent three nights in an extra bed in the middle of a five-bed ward with no curtains or privacy due to over-capacity problems at the acute mental health unit in Mayo General Hospital.

The secret to a strong marriage lies not in the stand-out holidays or presents, but enjoying one another every day, writes Margaret Jennings.

The controversial use of electric shock therapy to treat mentally ill patients against their will should be outlawed immediately, according to the Mental Health Commission (MHC) after a report found its use without consent has increased.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge said slow progress is being made towards developing a drug treatment and the game, called Wizard, can help where drugs have so far failed.

A proper assessment of patients of a mental health service where 13 people died by apparent suicide in less than two years would have made staff more alert to the risk of them taking their own lives, a report has found.

A psychiatric unit where patients have no access to fresh air and where a naked patient was exposed because of inadequate privacy measures has been criticised by the inspector of Mental Health Services.

Sexism is "rampant" within the Irish medical profession, according to an academic and consultant who claims that senior women within the industry have advised junior doctors to turn a blind eye to the problem to safeguard their career prospects.

A powerful “skunk-like” cannabis has been linked to one in four new psychosis cases.

OLDER couples who are not living ‘happily ever after’ can end up heartbroken — literally — and women usually suffer the most, according to a new study.

Some 91 children were admitted to adult psychiatric wards last year according to the Opposition, who accused the Government of failing to protect the rights of young people with mental health issues.

Ivor Callely is under round-the-clock observation in Mountjoy Prison’s acute mental health unit.

Many mental illnesses are as bad for you as smoking, research has suggested.

A man who stabbed a popular publican in his home was found not guilty of assault causing harm and aggravated burglary by reason of insanity at Kilkenny Circuit Court.

A local health service held up as “best mirroring” the Government’s stop-start ‘Vision for Change’ mental health reform is facing “serious cutbacks” due to staff shortages in the system.

Niamh Drohan’s study (Apr 3) of GP prescribing of antidepressants was unethical.

A groundbreaking mental health unit in the country’s most notorious jail has greatly improved care for inmates and boosted compliance with international human rights standards.

A new study has found that that 21%-23% of adolescents aged 11 to 13 have reported hearing voices.

Homeless people with a mental illness are five times more at risk of killing other people or themselves than people in the general community with such an illness.

A PSYCHIATRIC hospital serving a major city is unfit for purpose and should be closed down, experts have warned.

PATIENTS with mental health needs are still not getting proper access to therapeutic services and individual care plans are not being followed though, according to the Mental Health Commission’s latest inspection.

THE mother of a 27-year-old man who killed himself after being discharged from a hospital psychiatric unit where he went following a deliberate overdose has lost her case against the HSE for allegedly failing to provide adequate care to her son.

A DOCTOR is facing a series of charges of professional misconduct after altering medical records of an asylum seeker who took his own life while a patient at the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

IRELAND’S first genome sequencing laboratory is expected to release a flood of scientific knowledge about a huge range of illnesses.

More than 20 patients have been evacuated from the Department of Psychiatry at St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny today following a gas leak.

THE discovery of a gene associated with severe schizophrenia could lead to improved treatment of those with the mental disorder.

THE over-prescription of antidepressants, which is twice the level it should be, was robbing people of their natural ability to cope with trauma, one of the country’s leading psychiatrists said last night.

Suicide rates in Northern Ireland have risen since the end of the Troubles, according to new research published today.

THE Government-appointed head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) has not yet formally accepted the €300,000-plus job more than one month after the Tánaiste announced his selection.

THE Taoiseach has hit out at residents’ organisations who object to the siting of hostels for the homeless in their neighbourhoods.

Further evidence that ecstasy can cause serious brain damage emerged today.