Treating child mental health in Ireland like 'firefighting with a blindfold on' due to lack of research

'It is a really frustrating thing to see money poured into mental health anti-stigma campaigns, when this is a subject that demands actual action. That means investing in research and innovation.'

Ireland’s regressive approach to child mental health research means the HSE’s engagement with the issue amounts to “firefighting with a blindfold on”, according to a senior academic.

A new Irish and British study shows the lack of senior academic positions in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry here compared to a comparable discipline, neurology, which has almost five times more professorships compared with the youth psychology field.

All told, there are just two professorships in child and adolescent psychiatry in Ireland — at UCD and Trinity College Dublin — compared with nine in neurology.

That trend is replicated across Britain, where there are 114 professorships in the neurological field compared with 22 for child mental health.

In practical terms, the study — published in the British Journal of Psychiatry and co-authored by academics from various institutions, including UCD and Trinity — explains the lack of senior academics leads to lower levels of research in the field, with just four active mental health trials currently under way in Ireland.

By contrast, there are more than 10 times as many trials in progress into neurological conditions.

Ian Kelleher, a child psychiatrist and adjunct professor at the UCD School of Medicine and a co-author of the study, noted while there are the same number of child and adolescent mental health specialists as neurologists in the HSE, the same cannot be said in terms of research.

Noting approaches to treating child mental health issues across Ireland and Britain have barely changed in 30 years, Prof Kelleher said: “What do you expect when there’s no research happening in this area?”.

If you take the case of leukemia, 30 years ago more than 90% of children diagnosed with that illness died. Now, thanks to research, 90% recover. That is what happens when you research.

He said the HSE’s child mental health service Camhs was “reliant on child adolescent research groups”.

“If that’s not being generated we’re just firefighting with blindfolds on,” he said, adding clinicians in the field “would love to have new interventions”.

To address the imbalance, it would be necessary for the HSE and universities alike to fund, create and staff more academic posts as opposed to spending more money expanding the existing Camhs service.

“It is a really frustrating thing to see money poured into mental health anti-stigma campaigns, when this is a subject that demands actual action. That means investing in research and innovation,” Prof Kelleher said.

He added while Mental Health Minister Mary Butler had prioritised “a small amount of additional research in Camhs” in the last budget, that in his opinion “is just doing the same thing that has been done for decades, and that means that modern needs aren’t being met."

Separately, on Thursday, Cork Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide called on the Taoiseach to abandon the HSE’s ‘pay and numbers’ strategy, which has seen recruitment across the health service stymied to address budgetary overruns.

Speaking in the context of the massive waiting lists for initial child psychology consultations in Cork and Kerry, Mr Quaide asked the Taoiseach to commit to a “comprehensive recruitment drive for primary care services in Cork”.