St Vincent’s Hospital was aware no bed was available for a suicidal man having homicidal thoughts when it transferred him on to his local mental health service for assessment, a consultant psychiatrist has claimed.

With the festive season upon us, Catherine Shanahan asks Health Minister Leo Varadkar and a mix of doctors questions the general public don’t normally get to ask.

It is a harsh reality that over time, once the names of tragic twins Thomas and Paddy O’Driscoll disappear from the headlines, they will forever remain in statistics as some of the country’s youngest victims of murder-suicide.

Murder-suicides are relatively rare but can be as difficult to predict as suicides, meaning intervention is difficult.

A mental health expert says the policy of admitting psychiatric patients to emergency departments needs to be "looked at".

Siobhan Barry is a caring psychiatrist and has said that the long-term use of some psychiatric drugs can reduce life expectancy by up to 20 years (Irish Examiner, April 26), mirroring the position publicly adopted by the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Failure to monitor the side-effects of drugs to treat long-term mental illness is shaving up to 20 years off the lives of thousands of patients, according to a leading consultant psychiatrist.

Two GPs who treat young people for drug addiction believe cannabis use should be decriminalised for both recreational and medicinal use and regulated rather than outlawed.

The case of 25-year-old Samantha Azzopardi demands compassion rather than condemnation, writes Noel Baker

THEY are dismissed as con artists or depicted as cinematic heroes, as authentic as the ghoulish Halloween figures they battle.

A leading psychiatrist has commended the bravery of a terminally ill teenager who has agreed to have his anti- suicide message recorded in an effort to deter young people from taking their own lives.

THE Government should consider adding lithium salts to tap water in an effort to lower depression rates, a consultant psychiatrist has suggested.

A HSE report which must be carried out every year to assess how child and family services are working has still not been published for 2009.

TEENAGERS who spend a lot of time playing video games have brains similar to gamblers, research suggests.

THE HSE made just €6 million from the sale of mental health properties between 2005 and 2011, documents obtained by the Irish Examiner have revealed.

THE “overwhelming majority” of public mental health patients who need psychological interventions are not getting them, the Irish Association of Psychologists in Mental Health has said.

THE closure of Victorian-era psychiatric institutions has been official Government policy for more than 40 years, yet hundreds of mental health patients still remain in outdated, unsuitable buildings.

OLDER people with mental health problems who have been moved out of a 19th-century asylum deemed unfit for purpose by the Mental Health Commission (MHC) will move back again once a unit has been refurbished.

COMBINING cocaine and alcohol “can be lethal,” two top drug experts warned yesterday.

TWO hundred young people were admitted to adult psychiatric units last year, seven of which were involuntary admissions, in a practice branded “inappropriate and unhelpful” by health professionals.

A 75-YEAR-OLD woman who remains in a psychiatric hospital 58 years after she was involuntarily detained following a rape has spoken out about her life in a mental hospital.

No self-respecting society should compel vulnerable citizens to vegetate behind locked doors, but this is effectively what is happening to some people suffering mental illness.

JOHN Hunt turned 30 on Saturday and spent the day as a free man.

PEOPLE with mental illnesses who are not improving are being “contained” with medication in mental health facilities which do not provide them with any solution for their condition, mental health lawyers have warned.

VULNERABLE mental health patients could face early discharge or waiting lists for services if community care is not developed before the imposed closure of three old psychiatric hospitals, it has been warned.

LAST month the Health Service Executive admitted “full responsibility” for the deaths of Tracey Fay and David Foley, two teenagers who died in the care of the state.

INTRODUCING warning symbols on airbrushed body images to protect young people from developing eating disorders would be “a very welcome” development, a leading adolescent psychiatrist has said.

A HEALTH services report examining crisis and care services provided to vulnerable children and families is no longer being carried out according to specific guidelines set down under the Childcare Act.

THE Irish Psychiatric Association (IPA) has called on the Government to clarify whether the €43 million announced in yesterday’s budget for investment in mental health projects includes money already raised through the sale of psychiatric institutions.

TWO-THIRDS of people referred by their GP to a new service to help people with suicidal tendencies before they harm themselves had become overwhelmed by a severe life crisis, it has emerged.

Pumpkins galore – if you want to find a pumpkin David and Siobhan Barry, Ballintubber Farm have a terrific selection at the Midleton Farmers Market today. Contact 086 8238187.

A UNIT designed to cater for the needs of children and teens with serious psychiatric problems remains closed to clients — almost seven months after the Health Service Executive (HSE) announced its official opening.

A CONSULTANT psychiatrist has questioned the fact that the Government’svision for mental health services does not include treating addiction.

NO national public beds are dedicated in hospitals to people with eating disorders.

THE Health Service Executive received almost 24,000 reports of child abuse and neglect in 2007 but only followed up 15,074 of them, a new childcare report has revealed.

OVERDOSE suicide attempts and accidental poisoning of children are two reasons the Health Service Executive (HSE) is encouraging people to dump unused and out-of-date medicines.

A CHILD and adolescent psychiatric unit closed during the health cuts of the 1980s has been re-opened by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

A CHILD and adolescent psychiatric unit closed during the health cuts of the 1980s has been re-opened by the Health Service Executive (HSE).

ALCOHOL and drug abuse in the family was the primary reason why children were being monitored by social workers under child protection guidelines, according to the most recent Government report on childcare services.

MORE than €6.5 million was spent on treating 39 Irish people with mental illnesses in Britain over a three-year period from 2005.

MORE than €6.5 million was spent on treating 39 Irish people with mental illnesses in Britain over a three-year period from 2005.

Allotments: Demand for allotments is growing apace. Many are over-subscribed but some farmers on the edge of larger towns are beginning to offer allotments to rent.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) is spending €27 million a year on rented property — an average of €2.3m a month.

MEDICAL experts have warned that a serious shortage of psychologists could lead to a repeat of incidents like the Monageer tragedy where Adrian Dunne murdered his wife and two children before taking his own life.