Minding Ireland: How we can find our own pathway to mental healthcare

From low mood to clinical psychosis or schizophrenia, from eating disorders to addiction and low self-esteem — any of us can experience mental illness. Here, patients and experts alike talk us through paths to the getting the help we need

Several studies have shown that the pandemic has affected our mental health in Ireland, but it has also further opened up a national conversation in an area that was once silenced by shame and stigma.

People reach out for mental health support for a spectrum of reasons, from emotional distress in the form of low mood, to clinical diagnosis of psychosis or schizophrenia. Across that spectrum, there is everything from eating disorders to addiction and from self-esteem issues to bipolar.