People with intellectual disabilities and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
Forensic psychiatry and Covid-19: accelerating transformation in forensic psychiatry.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
Swift medically led scientifically informed responses to the Covid-19 epidemic nationally have been demonstrably superior to other, non-scientific approaches. In forensic psychiatry and across all psychiatric services, urgent and clinically led responses have underlined redundancies and confusions in the governance of mental health services and a v...
Mental health impacts of COVID-19 in Ireland and the need for a secondary care mental health service response.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health emergency, the scale, speed and nature of which is beyond anything most of us have experienced in our lifetimes. The mental health burden associated with this pandemic is also likely to surpass anything we have previously experienced. In this editorial, we seek to anticipate the nature of this additional men...
COVID-19 and its effect on emergency presentations to a tertiary hospital with self-harm in Ireland.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
This study aimed to assess the impact of COVID-19 on presentations to an acute hospital with self-harm. All presentations to University Hospital Galway with self-harm were assessed during the peak period of the coronavirus crisis in Ireland, over the 3 months from 1 March to 31 May 2020. These data were compared with presentations in the same month...
Mindfulness moments for clinicians in the midst of a pandemic.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
Clinicians are routinely subjected to intense and stressful working environments, and the current COVID-19 crisis increases their risk of psychological distress. Mindfulness has been shown to improve life satisfaction, resilience to stress, self-compassion, compassion and general well-being in healthcare workers. Based on their clinical experience,...
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with pre-existing anxiety disorders attending secondary care.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
To examine the psychological and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with established anxiety disorders during a period of stringent mandated social restrictions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 individuals attending the Galway-Roscommon Mental Health Services with an International Classification of Diseases diagnos...
Psychedelic science in post-COVID-19 psychiatry.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
The medium- to long-term consequences of COVID-19 are not yet known, though an increase in mental health problems are predicted. Multidisciplinary strategies across socio-economic and psychological levels may be needed to mitigate the mental health burden of COVID-19. Preliminary evidence from the rapidly progressing field of psychedelic science sh...
Psychiatrist experience of remote consultations by telephone in an outpatient psychiatric department during the COVID-19...
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shift globally from face-to-face consultations to remote consultations. In our department, remote consultations have taken in the form of telephone consultations. In this paper, we set out to study a group of Irish psychiatrists' experience of these consultations. We identified recurrent themes...
COVID-19 pandemic: mental health and beyond - the Indian perspective.
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
India is a de facto continent in the garb of a country. COVID-19 is an unprecedented global pandemic spanning continents. Being the second most populous country in the world, experts regard how India deals with the outbreak will have enormous impact on the world's ability to deal with it. The country has been in lockdown since March 25, 2020 until ...
Impact of initial COVID-19 restrictions on psychiatry presentations to the emergency department of a large academic teac...
Published in Irish journal of psychological medicine
To determine if the initial COVID-19 societal restrictions, introduced in Ireland in March 2020, impacted on the number and nature of psychiatry presentations to the emergency department (ED) of a large academic teaching hospital. We examined anonymised clinical data of psychiatry presentations to the ED during the initial 8-week period of COVID-19...
