Fears over mental health problems of town’s children

AROUND one-in-five schoolchildren in a Tipperary town have serious mental health problems, a study has found.

The symptoms included sleeping disorders, bed-wetting, alcohol and drug abuse and suicidal thoughts.

The South Tipperary Local Health Office, which was involved in carrying out the study, said it was very surprised by the results.

“We are very concerned, especially with our teenagers, the levels of things like self-harm, taking alcohol without their parents’ knowledge and suicidal ideation,” said principal psychologist Maeve Martin.

Mental health problems were detected in 17% of children aged under five in Clonmel, 10% of children under 12 and 26% of children under 18.

The level of mental health problems among young children and teenagers was very high compared to international levels of 10%-15%.

Among 12-18 year olds, 9% used drugs, 19% smoked and 35% drank alcohol. Around 10% reported having suicidal thoughts during the previous six months, with 7% having considered self-harm.

“We had over 595 children with very significant disorders that we need to follow up immediately and that’s what we’re doing in the follow-up,” said Ms Martin.

The €60,000 study was commissioned by the former South Eastern Health Board and carried out in conjunction with UCD. It surveyed the 4,100 children aged between two and 18 in Clonmel and received responses from more than 3,000.

“Clonmel is a good-sized town, it has a rural and a town community, so we thought it would be a prototype for other areas in Ireland. The whole idea is to give us a road map to go forward,” said Ms Martin.

The study found that the levels of problems were much higher among children attending the primary and secondary school in the poorest part of Clonmel.

These schools have since applied for extra funding from the Department of Education and a team of health board psychologists are making weekly visits to the children most at risk.

There were also indications that lone parents were finding it particularly difficult to cope with their children’s behaviour.

The Health Research Board has provided €30,000 to carry out family interviews with the children most at risk.