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Rethinking how to keep people well promises a ‘win win’ for the State and the individual

Demand for mental health supports and suicide prevention services have soared across Ireland during the 13-month Covid-19 pandemic.  The revelation from Ireland’s first Professor of Public Mental Health, Prof Ella Arensman, has verified mounting anecdotal concerns that the pandemic is having a significant mental health impact through extended isolation, lack of social interaction, financial stress and personal fears about the virus. Studies are now under way to determine the impact successive pandemic lockdowns have had on mental health. Suicide statistics for 2020 will not be available fo...

However, while there is anecdotal evidence of a surge in mental health-related pleas for help during the pandemic, there is no indication the number of suicides has soared significantly above levels experienced pre-Covid-19 in 2018 or 2019. GPs revealed that pleas for mental health supports over the past year have been linked to loneliness, isolation, depression, stress over financial issues and emotional problems due to loss of a loved one in the pandemic. Medical experts warned that such feelings have been amplified by the loss of normal processing systems during the pandemic such as funer...