Podcast reviews: Busting ADHD myths, using mosquitoes for good and the psychology in our everyday decisions
As such, podcasts such as Climbing the Walls (Apple, Spotify) are a valuable resource, this new limited investigative series focusing on ADHD in women and girls which is historically misdiagnosed due to presenting very different symptoms to men and boys – who have been widely presumed as the default in trials and treatment.
It's hosted by health and science journalist Danielle Elliott who, informed by her own experience of ADHD, talks to experts in the field about why there has been a surge in women and girls being diagnosed, the pros and cons of social media in raising awareness, and the impact of fluctuating hormones on symptoms.
Alisha Wainwright, after studying botany in Florida, moved to Panama for her PhD research.
'Science is one of the toughest industries because everyone is vying for the same pot of money to fund their research,' she told W magazine.
'I had a very weird anthropological-botanical focus, and I couldn't find anyone to give me the money to study it. I had to shift my focus to something a little broader, and I wasn't as interested in it.'
And so she swapped botany for... acting, starring in TV series Shadowhunters and Raising Dion.
She gets to indulge her twin passions in Wellcome: When Science Finds a Way (Apple, Spotify; wellcome.org), which uncovers the stories of how scientists and communities across the globe are tackling urgent health challenges, such as how infesting mosquitoes with a naturally occurring bacterium could prevent transmission of the Zika virus and dengue and yellow fever, and how the indigenous practise of 'cultural burning' may be key to controlling modern wildfires.
How do we break habits we know are bad for us but we just can't stop? Why are we obsessed with scaring ourselves with true crime podcasts? Why do we own pets? Could there actually be anything to astrology?
These are among the questions asked on Everything's Psychology (Apple, Spotify; wellcome.org) with Paul Davies, who shines a light on the secrets of the brain that rule our everyday lives, including how corporate groupthink can manipulate our way of thinking and decision-making.
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Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Irish Independent
Pegasos assisted dying clinic changes policies after Cavan woman passes away without prior knowledge of family
In early July, Maureen (58) ended her own life in a Swiss facility run by a group called Pegasos, apparently overseen by volunteers she did not know, and a dog, while Spotify played Amazing Grace by Elvis Presley in the background. Her partner Mick Lynch and daughter Megan only found out when a WhatsApp message arrived afterwards from Pegasos. She was then cremated, and the urn containing her ashes was posted home like a parcel containing something bought on the internet. Maureen Slough became tracking number CF128182270CH. In response to queries from the Irish Independent, the clinic said it has now changed its procedures for unaccompanied applicants. It will no longer accept unaccompanied applicants with living family members unless they provide copies of their next of kin's passport and allow representatives of the clinic to meet them in a video call. News of Maureen's death, and the manner in which she died, has once again prompted debate on the divisive subject of assisted dying. Should a person with a terminal illness be allowed to take their own life? What if they are terminally ill but are physically unable to trigger whatever mechanism or device will end their lives – would someone else be able to trigger it instead? What about someone who is not terminally ill but suffering unbearable pain through illness, a pain that is making their lives unliveable? What about someone who is not ill, but elderly and tired of living as they foresee a life of declining health and autonomy? And what about someone who suffers from mental illness? Can they be deemed to be 'of sound mind' when making these decisions? Swiss law allows for assisted suicide, as long as the motive of those assisting with the act is not selfish, such as where there would be monetary gain. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more The person requesting assistance in ending their lives must possess decision-making capacity, and they also must have control over the action of their death. In other words, they must be of sound mind and be able to trigger the action that will end their lives. Assisted dying in certain circumstances is also legal in New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and the US state of Oregon. Dignitas is the group that is probably most widely known for providing the service of assisted dying in Europe. 'If my mother provided Pegasos with a phone number for me, why didn't they ring me on that number to find out if I knew of her plan in advance?' Established as a not-for-profit members' society in Switzerland in 1998, between 2003 and 2023 Dignitas provided an assisted suicide service for 13 people from Ireland. Many of its clients, more than a third, travel from Germany, followed by the UK and France. Since its inception, it has assisted in more than 4,000 deaths for people from 67 countries as far away as Peru, Malaysia, Russia, the US and Uruguay. But there are other assisted suicide clinics in Switzerland, and it is the Pegasos group that has been under the spotlight in recent weeks since Maureen Slough's death. It is being criticised for allegedly allowing someone with a mental illness to take their life without the knowledge of her family. The family of UK teacher Alastair Hamilton, who took his life at a Pegasos clinic in 2023, say they were told afterwards by Pegasos that it would change its procedures to ensure that certain family members know of their loved one's wishes before assisting their death. But in January this year, the family of Anne Canning, from Wales, only learned of her death after she ended her life. They say Pegasos said it had attempted to contact a family member. Anne's family argue that 'attempting' to contact someone is not the same as actually contacting them. Now Maureen Slough's daughter Megan is asking the same questions as she holds a funeral service for her mother. Pegasos has said it received a letter from Megan saying she was aware of her mother's wishes, and that it verified the letter using an email address supplied by Maureen. Megan insists she did not write any letter or provide any email address to Pegasos. Whether Maureen herself wrote the letter and created the email account used for 'verification' or not, we will probably never know. But Megan asks: 'If my mother provided Pegasos with a phone number for me, to which a message would be sent following her death, why didn't they ring me on that number to find out if I knew of her plan in advance?' The clinic has now decided that in future it will no longer accept unaccompanied applicants with living family members unless they provide copies of their next of kin's passport and allow the clinic to contact them in a video call. In response to queries from the Irish Independent, a spokesman for the clinic said: 'We take great issue with any allegations that we are acting without regulation or unethically. Pegasos has always complied and will continue to comply with Swiss law without exception.' A Pegasos representative said each assisted death required careful prior assessment and the clinic requested medical and psychiatric reports. The applicant talks to a doctor/psychiatrist during the application process, and is interviewed again by a doctor on the day before the assisted death takes place. The total cost for a voluntary assisted death with Pegasos is approximately 10,000 Swiss Francs (€10,490). 'We have become aware of a few instances, where we had credible assurances by the patient that they had informed family members or had put us in contact with real family members, when in fact they had not, as it later turned out.' In response to these incidents, a clinic spokesman said Pegasos had incorporated additional steps to the application process. A spokesperson for Dignitas told the Irish Independent its own principle is that: 'One should not set upon a long journey without careful preparation and one should not set upon such a journey without having appropriately said goodbye to loved ones. People are always advised to speak with their loved ones, involve them in the process, ask them to be companions on the journey and to be present at a physician-supported accompanied/assisted suicide (PSAS) in Switzerland,' they said. But they add that the freedom and right to shape and determine the course of one's life, in the frame of what the law permits, also includes the freedom and right of a person to choose whom they inform about their decisions, which includes the decision to make use of PSAS. It advises people to speak with their loved ones and involve them in the process. But it says that any organisation, for legal and confidentiality reasons, cannot disclose information and/or data to third parties – be it family or friends or anyone else – without explicit consent of the person concerned. The motives for not wanting to inform family members, and others, may vary. 'They may range from being afraid of negative personal repercussions due to family estrangement, threats, stigma, etc, to wanting to protect loved ones from the negative impact of absurd local laws which threaten with legal consequences those who compassionately support someone to have a legal voluntary assisted death abroad,' the spokesperson said. 'The Swiss non-profit end-of-life-choices support groups, which provide people from Ireland, and any other country, with the option of legally exercising their right and freedom to decide on time and manner of their own end of life, only do so because these countries – in this case, Ireland – deprive people of this right and freedom.' Governments are accused by the group of 'dragging their feet in legalising what a majority of the public wishes for: legal options to end one's own suffering at home'. Back in 2012, university lecturer Marie Fleming and her partner Tom Curran tried to have the law here changed so that Marie, who had a very aggressive form of MS, could be helped to end her own life at a time of her choosing. The case prompted the first real public debate on assisted dying in Ireland. Marie and Tom became the faces of that debate, and they ultimately lost in court. Marie died in December 2013. 'I'm very disappointed that more than 10 years after Marie's death, we still do not have legislation on this,' Tom Curran told the Irish Independent. 'The last government put the committee (on assisted dying) together and it made favourable recommendations, but the new Dáil has sat on that and done nothing.' He also spoke about how the whole arena of assisted dying is full of grey areas, and he said future prosecutions will probably be the way any new law is tested. He feels there needs to be much more discussion about definitions of terms like 'assisting' a person who wants to die, so that there is clarity around that issue: 'Currently it is illegal to 'assist' someone to take their life. But what is 'assistance'? 'If an Aer Lingus pilot knew one of their passengers was going to Switzerland to end their life, would they be 'assisting' them by flying them there? Is the moral support of a loved one 'assistance'? There is no black and white here,' says Curran. 'Suicide has been decriminalised here since 1993, and yet it is a criminal act to assist someone to do something which is no longer a crime. It's a strange law,' he adds. Following seismic shifts in Irish constitutional rights such as abortion rights and the introduction of gay marriage, assisted dying now stands as the next divisive issue that Ireland must confront. Yet, just like those other polarising issues, successive governments have been accused of kicking the can down the proverbial road. Despite various reports, taskforces and proposed Bills, it remains a thorny topic that no one is prepared to ultimately deal with. The case brought by Marie Fleming against the government seemed like the first step along that road. Her legal team claimed the Section 2.2 of the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act, which renders it an offence to aid, abet, counsel or procure the suicide of another, was unconstitutional. This was rejected by both the High Court and the Supreme Court, and the offence still carries a sentence of up to 14 years in prison. The issue then gathered momentum. In 2015, a private members bill on assisted dying was proposed by ex-TD and minister John Halligan. In 2018, as debate on the issue continued to grow, the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality recommended that the Oireachtas consider referring the issue of assisted dying to the Citizens' Assembly for further consideration. This did not happen. More recently, former People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny sponsored the Dying with Dignity Private Members Bill in October 2020, and the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill in 2024, neither of which progressed. A Special Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying was eventually established in 2023, and it published its 96-page report in March 2024, based on sittings over six months, where they heard from over 70 witnesses, including experts in law, ethics, medicine, disability, palliative care, and psychiatry. The report details 38 specific recommendations for the potential legalisation of assisted dying in specific circumstances, chiefly that the legislation would allow for assisted dying for individuals with terminal illnesses expected to cause death within six months – or 12 months for neurodegenerative conditions. It also recommended the establishment of an independent body to oversee all assisted dying applications, as well as increased funding for palliative care, and enhanced research into economic disadvantage and health inequalities. The recommendations were supported by only nine of the committee's 14 members, and three published a dissenting minority report. In October of last year, however, the Dáil voted to accept the report, with 76 votes in favour and 53 against. Members were allowed a free or 'conscience' vote on the issue. An organisation known as Irish Doctors supporting Medical Assistance in Dying (IDsMAID) represents medical professionals in Ireland who advocate for the choice to access voluntary assisted dying, which they say is now available in 17 countries. A proposed model for how assisted dying might work in Ireland was drawn up by the group following the Dáil acceptance of the Oireachtas joint committee's report. The obvious opponents would be the Catholic Church, but also the palliative medicine community, who have sought to clarify their role and how people are medicated at the end of their lives. Disability rights advocates have also expressed their concerns. Yet public opinion has shifted considerably in the past two decades. An Amárach poll for RTÉ's Claire Byrne Show in 2021 found that 74pc of people would be in favour of legislation that would allow assisted dying under certain circumstances. It seems unlikely, however, that the Government will move forward with any such legislation.
Irish Times
13-08-2025
- Irish Times
ADHD medication can reduce risk of suicide, substance misuse and criminality for newly diagnosed, study finds
Prescribing medication to people newly diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) is associated with significantly reduced risks of suicidal behaviours, substance misuse, transport accidents and criminality, a new study has found. ADHD is a developmental impairment of the brain's executive functions, affecting around 5 per cent of the population in Ireland. Many people diagnosed with ADHD have trouble with impulse-control, focusing and organisation, according to ADHD Ireland. In a study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), researchers in Sweden drew on data from its national registers from 2007 to 2020 to examine the effects of ADHD drug treatment in 148,581 individuals aged between 6 and 64 years, with a new diagnosis of the disorder. Using a technique called target trial emulation, they assessed first and recurrent events for five outcomes over two years after diagnosis. The average age of those in the study were 17 years old, and 41 per cent were female. READ MORE Adult diagnosis of ADHD: 'It was the missing puzzle piece' Listen | 22:00 Of the 148,581 individuals with ADHD, 84,282 (57 per cent) started drug treatment for the disorder. After accounting for factors including age, sex, education level, psychiatric diagnoses and medical history, ADHD medication was associated with reduced rates of a first occurrence of four of the five outcomes, the study found. According to the researchers, there was a 17 per cent reduction for suicidal behaviour, 15 per cent for substance misuse, 12 per cent for transport accidents and 13 per cent for criminality. The reduction was not statistically significant for a first-time accidental injury, but there was a reduction for people with recurrent events where accidental injuries reduced by 4 per cent. The authors suggested a number of possible explanations for the reduction. These include reduced impulsivity, which might lower criminality by curbing aggressive behaviour, and enhanced attention, which might decrease the risk of transport accidents by minimising distractions. The researchers acknowledge a number of limitations to the study, including not being able to assess data on non-drug treatment methods or the impact of other factors, such as severity, lifestyle or genetic predispositions. Ken Kilbride, chief executive of ADHD Ireland, said not everybody with ADHD is going to need medication but for those who do, it is important to ensure there are no barriers in place. [ 'My son's teacher thinks he might have ADHD but my husband does not want to have him assessed' Opens in new window ] 'The challenge at the minute can be to get diagnosis and get that medication. There is a big logjam in this area,' he said. 'We have known there is a socio-economic cost to ADHD. It costs €2 billion in Ireland every year due to lower life expectancy, higher rates in prison, unemployment etc. There is always a stigma around medication, particularly among children. So it is great to have this research to prove just how beneficial it can be for some people.' In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of people seeking diagnosis and treatment for ADHD in Ireland – particularly among women. In February, The Irish Times published data which found the number of prescriptions for ADHD medications increased by 87 per cent over the past five years. The rise among women and girls was much more acute, with prescriptions increasing by almost 180 per cent between 2020 and 2024, from 19,827 to 55,452 last year. The surge among women is being partly attributed to increasing awareness and prevalence of the condition on social media platforms, particularly TikTok. Women have also typically been underdiagnosed. Those working in the sector have raised concerns about online content on the topic, after a number of academic studies showed many of these posts contained inaccurate or misleading information.
The Irish Sun
12-08-2025
- The Irish Sun
Lydia Bright slammed for ‘parent-shaming' as she shares medical advice online
TOWIE alum Lydia Bright has been called out for "parent shaming" after sharing medical advice online. The reality TV star, 34, came under fire following her latest Instagram post, which documented a day in her life as a busy mum. Advertisement 6 TOWIE alum Lydia Bright has been called out for 'parent shaming' Credit: Splash 6 It came after she shared medical advice online Credit: PA 6 Lydia linked the rise in ADHD diagnoses to an increased use of screen time Credit: Instagram It showed Lydia playing with her five year old daughter Loretta and cooking together while calling out the increased use of screen time among kids. The former TOWIE fan favourite admitted she was "far from the perfect parent" yet hailed the "routines" she sticks to with Loretta to keep her away from tablets, including "books before bed." Lydia partnered with organisation Health Pros for Safer Screens for her video, yet some fans took issue with one claim in which she linked increased screen time to a "27 per cent rise children struggling with speech and language." She added: "ADHD diagnoses have soared by 56 per cent and one in four 10 year olds are now living with obesity." Advertisement Fans weren't impressed with the link to ADHD, which is a common condition that affects people's behaviour. The disorder, which is often diagnosed in childhood, often sparks symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. The ADHD Foundation reveals that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common childhood conditions. One angry follower was quick to comment on Lydia's post and wrote: "Screens don't cause ADHD. The ADHD is already there, so tired of this false narrative just so you can post an ad. Inaccurate and offensive." Advertisement A second posted: "ADHD is genetic, this will make parents feel awful by saying that screen time caused it!" A third mused: "I have to comment but as far as I am aware ADHD isn't related to screen time, it's genetics." Lydia Bright reveals daughter, five, is still co-sleeping One then wrote: "Throwing ADHD in the mix is not good. The only reason ADHD diagnosis is up is because it's being recognised now unlike a few years ago they said it was bad parenting. "Please only post the truth it's important. I agree with you too many parents can you screen time and it's not good for children." Advertisement Another mused: "I'm sorry you haven't been given the correct information about ADHD having specialised and worked with children and young adults. "It's going to offend the hard working parents and guardians alike . ADHD isn't related to screens!" What is neurodiversity? You may have heard of autism and ADHD before. These conditions come under the umbrella term of neurodiversity. Neurodiversity is a term that refers to the natural variation in how human brains work. It is rooted in the idea that neurological differences, such as those associated with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette's syndrome, and other conditions, are a normal and valuable part of human diversity rather than deficits or disorders that need fixing. Rather, society should find ways to be more inclusive and accommodating, such as in schools and the workplace. Here's a closer look at two of the key conditions: ADHD ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how individuals focus, regulate their impulses, and manage their energy levels. Symptoms depend on the type; inattention causes challenges with focusing, organisation and time management, hyperactivity causes excessive energy or restlessness, and impulsivity causes a person to act without thinking or struggle to wait their turn. People can be predominately one type or a mix of the two and symptoms are varied and unique to individuals. While living with ADHD is challenging, people often find unique strengths within their condition, such as the ability to hyperfocus on something they find interesting, problem-solving skills and creativity. Autism Autism is described as a "spectrum" because it encompasses a wide range of traits and abilities. Common features include difficulty with social communication, such as reading facial expressions or tone, repetitive behaviours and routine, sensitivity to stimulation of the senses, e.g. bright lights or loud noises, and detailed, literal thinking. Autism can be challenging, including due to a lack of understanding. But there are key strategies to help those with it thrive. In her caption, Lydia offered more insight in her new collaboration. She wrote: "We're in the middle of a public health crisis that isn't being talked about. Ad* Advertisement "I believe so many parents aren't aware of the developmental, behavioural, physical, and emotional risks of excessive screen time in early childhood. "That's why I've teamed up with @healthprosforsaferscreens to help share the facts. This isn't about guilt tripping, we're all doing our best with the knowledge and tools we have. "But I believe that if parents really knew the dangers that would make different choices. "Which is why I think their free Summer of Connections e-book is a must-read for parents. Advertisement "It's packed with evidence, information and realistic ideas to help families reduce screen time and support new routines, rituals and healthier childhood development. "Head to my stories or bio to download. *Partnering with #healthprosforsaferscreens to raise awareness of screen harms." FAN SLAM Recently, Lydia was mum-shamed for admitting she still co-sleeps with her daughter instead of her partner. She previously came under fire over a sweet video she posted of her five-year-old little girl. Advertisement In the sweet clip, Loretta - whom she shares with her ex-boyfriend Lee Cronin - could be seen fast asleep next to her mum. However, some cruel trolls said she should not be letting her child sleep next to her, if she wants to find a new man. She was also mum-shamed after letting her daughter climb on plane seats. 6 Fans were quick to flag the condition is genetic Advertisement 6 Lydia told of the 'routines' she uses with daughter Loretta to reduce screen time in her new Instagram campaign Credit: instagram/lydiabright
