Autistic people have high levels of mental ill-health and an increased risk of suicide across the lifespan. Yet autistic people report difficulties communicating with healthcare professionals and accessing a range of healthcare services. At the same time, mental healthcare workers in other countries are reporting links between confidence when working with autistic patients and the degree of autism knowledge and training they can access.

We sought to examine what factors helped or hindered Irish mental healthcare colleagues when working with autistic healthcare service users. An online survey using quantitative and qualitative metrics was circulated among psychiatrists who are members of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, both in training and at consultant level, from April 2021 to April 2022.

Knowledge of autism was high among psychiatrists (n = 140), but self-efficacy scores were variable, particularly in relation to care pathways. Self-efficacy was better among psychiatrists with caseloads of children and youth or individuals with co-occurring intellectual disabilities. Three key qualitative themes emerged relating to capacity and training of mental health professionals, ways to improve mental health services provision for autistic individuals and also the critical need for co-creation and neurodiversity affirmative care.

The study highlighted critical systemic and professional challenges in providing mental health care to autistic people in Ireland. We provide recommendations for reducing these challenges and for enabling the development of inclusive, evidenced-based care to autistic individuals.

The aim of this study is to assess General Practitioner (GP) trainees’ training experience, and confidence in assessing and managing children and adolescents with common mental health conditions in primary care in Ireland.

An online anonymous questionnaire was distributed to third and fourth year GP registrars enrolled in the Irish College of General Practitioners training schemes. The online questionnaire evaluated participants’ training experiences and confidence levels in key areas of child and adolescent mental health in primary care.

Sixty participants completed the survey out of 406, yielding a response rate of 14.8%. The majority (88%) reported no formal training or experience working in Child and Adolescent Mental Healthcare Services (CAMHS) during their GP training scheme. Responses indicated that many participants rated their competency, skills, and knowledge in essential areas of Child and Adolescent Mental Health as needing improvement. Similarly, their awareness of referral pathways and specialty services was below expectations, with poor perceived access to services. A large proportion (91.7%) expressed a definite need for further training in child and adolescent mental health disorders.

The results highlight the need for enhanced training and support for GP trainees in the field of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, ensuring their ability to effectively and confidently address these common issues in primary care.

To examine if the current taught undergraduate psychiatry syllabus at an Irish University relates to what doctors in psychiatry consider to be clinically relevant and important.

Doctors of different clinical grades were invited to rate their views on 216 items on a 10-point Likert scale ranging from ‘0 = not relevant’ to ‘10 = very relevant’. Participants were invited to comment on topics that should be excluded or included in a new syllabus. Thematic analysis was conducted on this free-text to identify particular themes.

The doctors surveyed rated that knowledge of diagnostic criteria was important for medical students. This knowledge attained high scores across all disorders with particularly high scores for a number of disorders including major depressive disorder (mean = 9.64 (SD = 0.86)), schizophrenia (mean = 9.55 (SD = 0.95)) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); mean = 9.26 (SD = 1.40)). Lower scores were noted for less frequently utilised management strategies (transcranial magnetic stimulation (mean = 4.97 (SD = 2.60)), an awareness of the difference in criteria for use disorder and dependence from psychoactive substances (mean = 5.56 (SD = 2.26)), and some theories pertaining to psychotherapy (i.e. Freud’s drive theory (mean = 4.59 (SD = 2.42)).

This study highlights the importance of an undergraduate programme that is broad based, practical and relevant to student’s future medical practice. An emphasis on diagnosis and management of major psychiatry disorders, and knowledge of the interface between mental health services, other medical specialities and support services was also deemed important.

Personality disorders, characterised by pervasive emotional and interpersonal dysfunction, are integral to psychiatric practice. This service review estimated the prevalence of personality disorders in a psychiatric inpatient setting and looked at various clinical and demographic factors of interest.

Data were retrospectively collected from 526 patients discharged from St Patrick’s University Hospital in 2019–2020 under the care of two consultant-led teams. Demographic and clinical data such as age of first mental health contact, number of previous admissions, and risk history were recorded as well as the use of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Personality Disorders (SCID-5-PD).

37% of the sample had at least one personality disorder, with borderline (24.9%), avoidant (13.3%) and obsessive-compulsive (7.6%) being the most common subtypes. Notably, in 72.1% of cases the diagnosis was new. High comorbidity was observed, particularly with affective (47.7%) and anxiety disorders (28.4%). Patients with personality disorders exhibited high rates of self-harm (45%) and suicide attempts (40%).

The review highlighted potential delays in diagnosis, with an average of 15 years of mental health service contact prior to diagnosis. The findings underscore the need for specialised services and further research to better understand and manage personality disorders in the Irish psychiatric setting. Limitations include the specific sample from a private mental health facility and the high use of structured interviews, which may affect the generalisability of the results to other settings. This review contributes valuable data to the limited research on personality disorder prevalence in Irish psychiatric services.

This study aimed to estimate networks of depressive symptoms among Irish adults with and without diabetes at two time points and compare between the two groups at each time point using data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Participants were from Wave 1 (2009–2011) and Wave 4 (2016) of TILDA, with n = 639 participants with diabetes and n = 7,837 without diabetes at Wave 1, and n = 1,151 with diabetes and n = 4,531 without diabetes at Wave 4. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 8 items of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Network psychometric analysis was used to examine symptom centrality, symptom-level associations, and network comparisons at each time point.

Stable, strongly connected networks emerged for people with and without diabetes at both time points. The symptoms of feeling depressed, feeling like everything’s an effort, not enjoying life, feeling sad, and couldn’t get going were the most central nodes in all networks, which did not differ between people with and without diabetes. However, for people with diabetes, the network was more densely connected at Wave 4, when the sample was predominately people with newly diagnosed diabetes. Furthermore, the relationship between ‘felt lonely’ and ‘couldn’t get going’ and between ‘not enjoying life’ and ’sad’ was significantly stronger for people with diabetes than for those without.

This study provides a more detailed understanding of the structure of depressive symptoms at two time points in older Irish adults with and without type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Schizophrenia is a chronic condition that requires long-term management. Quality of life is an important outcome measure for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia; it can be tracked over time allowing evaluation of whether interventions lead to sustainable improvements. Nutrition and dietary interventions are an underutilized treatment for tackling the metabolic consequences of mental illness, which is now recognized as having increased importance in the management of schizophrenia. This study examines the impact of nutrition and dietary interventions on quality of life outcomes for those with schizophrenia.

A systematic review of the literature was conducted, assessing the impact of nutritional interventions on quality of life outcomes in individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

A total of 982 articles were screened, of which nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Quality of life measures varied across studies, which made comparison across studies challenging. Previous studies had relatively small sample sizes and did not have long follow-up durations. Some of the studies found that dietary interventions such as counselling, weight management programs, food diaries and nutritional education improved quality of life, whereas others did not detect any effect.

The review provides preliminary evidence that nutrition and dietary interventions may benefit quality of life among individuals with schizophrenia. There were however substantial limitations in studies highlighting the need for further research. The paper also highlights the need to standardize assessment tools for future quality-of-life research.

Many consultations in primary care involve patients with mental health problems, and primary care is typically the place where many such patients initially seek help. While considerable research has examined the prevalence of mental health disorders in primary care, relatively few papers have examined this issue in recent years. This study aims to address this gap by reviewing contemporary literature from 2014 to 2024 on the prevalence of mental health disorders among general practice patients.

A comprehensive search across PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar was conducted, adhering to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines for article selection and assessment, examining the prevalence of mental health disorders in general practice.

Studies varied in methodologies and healthcare settings, with reported prevalence rates of mental health disorders ranging from 2.4% to 56.3%. Demographic characteristics (female gender, older age) were associated with a higher prevalence of mental health disorders in the studies identified. Studies based on patient interviews reported broader prevalence (2.4–56.3%) compared to studies using electronic medical record reviews (12–38%). Prevalence also varied between countries. Notably, there has been a lack of post-COVID-19 studies, especially within Europe, examining the prevalence of mental health prevalence in primary care.

Mental health problems are still common among patients attending general practice; the approach to data collection (i.e., prospective interviews with patients), female gender and older age appear to be correlates of higher estimates. Further research involving a large-scale study with multiple sites is a priority.

To compare the characteristics of GP referrals to CAMHS prior to and over the entire pandemic.

All accepted referrals to a Dublin-based CAMHS between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2023, were examined. Referral letters were anonymised in batches, and information was extracted directly onto a designated proforma.

Before the pandemic (January 2019–February 2020), an average of 17.8 referrals were accepted per month, while during and after the pandemic (March 2020–June 2023), this rose to 18.7 accepted referrals per month. Increases were observed in the clinic’s prioritisation of cases during the pandemic period (54.8% v. 41%, p < .001).

Referrals post COVID-19 were older (13.1–13.64 years, p = .010) with a higher proportion of females (50.2% v. 62.1%, p < .001). Internalising disorders increased during the pandemic (68.7% v. 78.7%, p = .001), with self-harm referrals also being notably more frequent (18.5% v. 36.3%, p < .001). Referrals for anxiety (43.0% v. 78.2%, p = .004) and eating disorders (0% v.. 6.2%, p < .001) increased significantly. Referrals for psychosis (8.4% v. 4.8%, p = .032) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (26.5% v. 18.7%, p = .008) decreased after the onset of the pandemic.

Notable increases in referrals for anxiety, depression, self-harm, and eating disorders underscore the impact of the pandemic on youth mental health. Understanding these shifts is crucial for CAMHS to adapt resources and interventions effectively. Clinicians must remain vigilant in assessing and addressing the evolving mental health needs of youths in the post-COVID era, ensuring timely and appropriate interventions, and resources to mitigate long-term consequences.