Rise in young people's mental health difficulties partly due to housing insecurity, says charity
'It was a safe space. I would get so overwhelmed and I would be over-analysing anything. I felt conscious, constantly aware of everything,' she says.
The now 25-year-old remembers doing a test when she was 12 to mark the end of primary school. 'I got so stressed out I completely blacked out.'
She didn't know it then, but that was the beginning of the Donegal woman's struggle with
mental health
difficulties.
READ MORE
She started receiving treatment when she was 16, and felt better by the end of school. In college she was doing well, until she began to experience bouts of very low mood.
'It was tough because things were at a crisis point there. It was exhausting every day to get up. Sometimes I didn't feel like getting out of bed at all.'
Rachel isn't the only young person who has felt that way. On Thursday, youth mental health charity Jigsaw published its 2024 annual report, which found the organisation delivered more than 62,000 clinical contacts last year.
According to the report, four in 10 young people accessing its services presented with high levels of mental health distress. Jeff Moore, research director at the charity, said pre-Covid this figure would have been three in 10.
Mr Moore said young people's mental health has been 'deteriorating for about two decades', but the pandemic 'accelerated it in a lot of ways'.
'This is not a temporary issue. It's an issue that needs a really long-term Government and policy response,' he said.
The reasons behind this increase in severity are 'complex', Mr Moore added, though in the Irish context he said
housing
insecurity is a common issue raised among those accessing Jigsaw's services.
'Issues like uncertainty around the future, whether that's climate change, climate anxiety, that's a real thing that's driving young people's mental health. It's a collection of issues and it's the fact that these issues are never going away, they're very constant.'
Edel Connolly (24) started struggling with mental health difficulties when she was 13 as she was transitioning to secondary school. She would feel sick every morning in school and put her head down in class.
She didn't tell anyone in the beginning, until suddenly she became worried about her own safety.
'I was self-harming and I was thinking about suicide. So I told my mam,' she said.
She went to the GP, started therapy and developed mechanisms to help herself. Though there were 'setbacks', she felt she was on the road to recovery. When she was late diagnosed with ADHD and autism aged 19 and 21 respectively, her teenage feelings made more sense to her.
'I spent my teenage years thinking there was something wrong with me but there were no words to explain why or how,' she added.
That transition into secondary school was also a turning point for Kildare man Eoin McEvoy. He sought help for anxiety aged 12 but was told he was not severe enough to be admitted to the
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
(Camhs).
Eventually his condition deteriorated to such an extent he dropped out of school in transition year. He spent a 'short period of time' in and out of a psychiatric hospital, but now he is much more optimistic about his future.
'I attended a school for school-leavers who struggle with mental health, made my way through PLCs, and I slowly managed to get better with my anxiety. Now I'm going into my second year of psychology at UCD. I have a partner who's amazing for me. I'm happy.'
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Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘People are really struggling': Cost pressures forcing asthma patients to cut back on medication, says Asthma Society
Nearly a quarter of respondents to a survey by the Asthma Society of Ireland have said they went without asthma medication in the previous three months because of its cost. Combination inhalers, the 'gold standard' for asthma control, cost between €65 and €85 each and are going up in price, ASI chief executive Eilís Ní Chaithnín told The Irish Times. 'It may seem manageable, but it's not for a quarter of the people who responded to our survey', said Ms Ní Chaithnín. 'People are really struggling.' This is especially acute at pinch points, such as the beginning of the new school term when people have extra household costs, she said. The ASI said the price of medication combined with cost-of-living pressures have caused an 'affordability crisis' for the estimated 450,000 people living with asthma in Ireland. READ MORE Of the 627 patients or their parents who respondent to ASI's survey, 56 per cent said they had experienced difficulties making ends meet. The cost burden on people with severe asthma, which requires much greater amounts of medication to control it, is even higher. 'That's €80 a month for the rest of my life, it's a financial commitment,' said Emily Smyth, who was diagnosed with severe asthma in her 20s and is a recipient of the drug payment scheme. '[Medication is] not something you can forgo safely. But people are backed into a corner and have to choose between paying their mortgage, their bills or their medication,' Ms Smyth said. [ Hay fever and asthma sufferers face more severe symptoms due to agricultural fertilisers - study Opens in new window ] ASI's submission describes 'systemic gaps' in asthma diagnosis and treatment which create a long-term financial burden from poorer health outcomes. The organisation is calling on the Government to allocate €14 million to subsidise asthma medications in 2026. Prof Marcus Butler, medical director at ASI, said subsidisation of inhalers was important because '[they] are proven to be extremely effective in controlling asthma and reducing symptoms which, of course, has a positive knock-on effect for the patient and the healthcare system.' 'The most recent CSO figures available to us show that 87 people died from asthma in 2022, with provisional figures indicating this trend has continued into 2023 and 2024. The majority of these deaths are preventable', he said. The society also suggests that the threshold for the drugs payment scheme be reduced by €8 to €72 and that prescription charges for medical card holders be abolished, at an estimated cost of €84.5 million to the exchequer. They want further attention to be paid to severe asthma patients and free home energy upgrades for people with chronic respiratory conditions at risk of energy poverty. 'By these relatively inexpensive measures the Government can enhance the lives of those hundreds of thousands [of asthma patients]. We've been calling on the Government for years to subsidise medication and today we're offering a very pragmatic approach," Ms Ní Chaithnín said. 'Financial barriers should never be a reason that we don't seek healthcare', Ms Smyth said. 'We should all have access to care, we should all have access to medication.'
Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
Middle-aged, middle-class cocaine use: ‘My wife thought I was having an affair, but I was using coke'
Sadhbh, a mother of young children in her 30s, once bought cocaine from a friend at a wedding. She accepts this 'sounds really grim' but it was not the only wedding she attended where guests took the drug. 'The heaviest night I've ever done was after the after-party of a wedding – in a hotel room with a crowd of us keeping the party going.' Describing herself as middle-class, Sadhbh says she takes cocaine occasionally but 'wouldn't consider myself a regular user'. She has also used the drug with her husband. As the demographic of people taking drugs in Ireland changes, she is among a new generation whose use of cocaine has surged in recent years. The white powder is a powerful stimulant but it can derail life when usage spins out of control, as it often does. Recent Department of Health data shows cocaine, which is highly addictive, has surpassed opioids such as heroin as the main illicit problem drug reported by people seeking treatment. READ MORE Once seen as a drug of youth, cocaine is also prevalent among an older age cohort. The median age of people in treatment for cocaine use is 34. They are more likely than before to be in employment and generally have a better level of education than users did in 2017. Health Research Board (HRB) data point to a 252.6 per cent increase between 2017 and 2024 in the number of people seeking treatment in cases where cocaine was the main problem drug. 'The biggest change in treatment demand patterns was due to cocaine,' the HRB said in a report published in May. 'We use the three Es' to describe the cocaine situation, says Anita Harris, deputy head of services at Coolmine, a drug and alcohol treatment group with 14 service centres in Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Co Kerry. 'Everyone's using it. It's everywhere. And it's everything.' Anita Harris, head of services at Coolmine treatment services in Blanchardstown. Photograph: Alan Betson Harris notes how the profile of cocaine users seeking Coolmine treatment has evolved over the years. 'These are people that have work histories. They're not your demographic of early school leavers. They've third-level education, trades. It's a very, very different profile, that literally their lives have been turned upside down,' she says. 'A lot of these [people] now have to even reconsider careers, if there's a lot of cocaine use in their careers ... Because cocaine use is so widely available [for] many of these now, it's a complete change. They've to now change the way they either are returning to work, or they need to retrain or re-educate themselves in something else. Because they cannot return to that workplace.' So who are Ireland's older users of cocaine and what sort of impact is it having on them and their families? We spoke to several people about their experience, some telling of adverse health impacts such as heart attacks and of selling cars or even work tools to fund their cocaine use. The sister of one user told of the drug being delivered directly to his front door and entertainment events in broad daylight. SADHBH* 'The idea of being around the kids with it still in my system does not sit well with me at all' Sadhbh, which is not her real name, is now 37. She was in her late 20s when she started using cocaine. Living abroad at the time, she tried using the drug for the first time 'on a night out with a load of other Irish people'. 'I remember the comedown the next day was pretty hard. I remember being surprised at that,' she says. 'Considering I only did a very reasonable amount, it was a lot for that.' As she describes it, the comedown was similar to 'the fear, when you've got a really bad hangover'. That experience put her off cocaine for a time. 'It was probably a year, if not more, before I looked at it again,' she says. At this stage, Sadhbh had returned to Ireland. 'To my mind ... it had become a lot more widespread.' As time went on, she used the drug in different settings. 'Sometimes on nights out, depending on who I was with, or where I was ... I never really planned to do it. It was just, 'Oh, someone's got a bag. Let's go to the ladies', or that sort of thing. In other cases, it was having friends [over], drinking at home. You have a few drinks at home, catching up, and someone would just have a bag on them,' she says. 'I personally would only ever do a few bumps, as they say. I always laugh when you see people on movies doing massive lines of cocaine ... I've never in my life done that. I've never seen anyone do that.' Her practice is to use cocaine in very small amounts consistently over the course of several hours. The last time Sadhbh used the drug was a few months ago when she was away for the night. 'The idea of being around the kids with it still in my system does not sit well with me at all.' There is no getting away from the fact that cocaine is supplied by dangerous criminal networks but she tries not to think about where the drug comes from. 'I don't particularly want to know the details.' Sadhbh goes on to liken this to turning a blind eye to where cheap clothing may come from and the working conditions that may be involved. 'It's that kind of white privilege. That kind of cognitive dissonance. I don't think about it,' she says. 'My mum had always told me, even about hash or anything like that 'You know you're just funding criminals'. I don't ask my friend where she gets it. I don't particularly want to know. The fact that she's taking it alongside me makes me think that she's happy enough that it's okay stuff.' Harris of Coolmine says this is all part of cocaine being 'very socially acceptable'. 'If someone went in and injected heroin, I think people would be shocked to the core. It just would not be acceptable for people to use heroin in the workplace ... or socialising after the workplace. Whereas nobody's batting an eyelid to people using cocaine – until it becomes a problem.' 'For the majority of people that we see, their story is the same. It all started very recreational.' Harris says people buying cocaine are 'actually adding' to the wreckage of human lives and communities caused by criminal feuds. 'It mightn't be in your area, in Dalkey or Foxrock where they're having the feuds. But where do you think your cocaine is coming from?' BEN* 'My wife thought I was having an affair. I said, no, I'd been using coke every day. She had no idea' Ben, who is 51 and a father of three, had a disastrous experience with cocaine. When he started using the drug more than 20 years ago, he arrogantly believed he would never have a problem with it. 'Because I used it socially, and it was never something I felt I had to keep up the next morning. But it's a sneaky drug. It creeps up on you,' he says. 'I was 30 when I first used cocaine. It was very sparingly ... I took it once and then didn't take it for months. And then slowly, every time you're going out. It's just so accessible now.' 'It's not just a drug for young people. The pubs I drank in, there were 60-year-olds [on the drug]. Cocaine is from grannies down to teenagers.' 'It's a sneaky drug. It catches up on you.' Photograph: Paul Harris/Getty Ben says the drug is very easy to source. For those on a night out, the 'big thing' to observe is how people behave. 'You see people going in and out of the toilet ... You'll know it's going on. A thing that's being said all the time is, 'Have you got a number?' That usually means 'Have you got a number for somebody I can get?' At this point someone will usually offer a [phone] number.' Cocaine 'really took over' Ben's life during the Covid pandemic. 'I was on the Covid payment, I was at home so, 'Ah sure, I'll get a bag'. I'd end up using in the morning. I'd be ... at home painting the house, justifying it: 'I'm still doing things'.' Ben felt like he needed the cocaine 'to function' in life. 'It was every day, and then that evening. The bills were mounting up ... I wasn't paying bills. I was manipulating my kids to take the post out of the post box so my wife couldn't find them. The mortgage was going into arrears.' His wife knew nothing about his cocaine use. 'You become a master manipulator,' says Ben. 'It came to a head when we were driving one day. I was brought up with good values and morals, and I hated myself.' Ben's wife asked him, in the car, if he was having an affair. 'I couldn't wait to get it out of my mouth. I said, 'No. I've been using coke every day'. She had no idea.' 'I became so sneaky and devious, to get what I want, that nothing else mattered,' he says. 'She was devastated.' The marriage broke down. At 49 he moved back in with his parents. He had to explain to his wife that their mortgage was thousands of euro in arrears. He sought help initially 'to curry favour' with his wife, but admits he was still using cocaine on the bus to the treatment centre. Only later did he resolve to accept treatment for himself. He's been two years clean of cocaine and has reconciled with his wife. He knows he's lucky. 'I functioned for so long. Worked and used ... I functioned for so long, until it took over everything.' Harris of Coolmine says cocaine puts users on a 'gradual progression' to addiction. 'You could use cocaine for a very long time recreationally before it starts moving into problematic cocaine use,' she says. 'When I'm trying to get people to understand why would people use, when they know what the destruction is going to be, I say: 'That's where you're wrong.' 'They don't see themselves as that other person out there who has a drug problem. They see themselves as a person who's working, who can afford cocaine, who has a job, who has a family, and I use this because I feel good when I use it. It's the exact same kind of psychology as somebody going for a drink on a Friday after work.' Still, risk is never far away. Certain users drive while under the influence of the drug. Others admit to working on building sites after taking cocaine. The health and safety implications were clear but user's need for the drug was bigger. Cocaine doesn't only affect the person using it. Those who love the drug user are also deeply impacted. MUIREANN* 'My brother can get it anywhere ... He was at a show in Dublin last year. It was delivered to the matinee at lunchtime' Muireann's brother is a 47-year-old tradesman and father in a family with a middle-class background. He started 'dabbling' in his late twenties, she says. 'The usual, started smoking a bit of weed, then taking a few pills – and then to the cocaine,' she says. Her brother's marriage broke down because of his drug-taking. 'He's isolated himself from everybody,' she says. 'He can't be in social situations any more ... He just isolates himself away and stays in bed ... It's just awful, and there's nothing we can do.' Muireann says her brother is still using cocaine, which is delivered to his house. She tells her children, who are too young to understand the situation, that their uncle 'is not well'. They 'love him, because when he's okay, he's great fun'. Still, Muireann's husband doesn't want their children around her brother because of his cocaine habit. 'Obviously he [her husband] won't let them go in the car or anything. He drives high constantly.' Muireann says her brother can purchase cocaine easily. 'He gets it delivered to the house. He can get it delivered anywhere ... He was at a show in Dublin last year. It was delivered to the matinee at lunchtime, at the break,' she says. 'No problem. They can get it anywhere. I don't know how they do it. There's a world and it's just a text away.' Living in the same neighbourhood as her brother, she worries about safety. His car 'was smashed up outside the house', she says. 'He is a normal person. He's a gent. He's the most generous human, good-looking fellow, gorgeous, really successful man – and this has just taken every ounce of him from us. He's not the same. Even if he stopped today, I don't know would we ever get him back. I think his brain chemistry has changed that much now, he's gone into psychosis, where he thinks conspiracy theories.' Feeling helpless, she lives in fear of finding her brother dead. 'Nobody can help him until he reaches rock bottom, and I don't know what that looks like.' THE MEDIC 'Cocaine is known as the perfect heart-attack drug' Increasing cocaine use was reflected in data this week from the Rutland Centre, another drug treatment group. Rutland's annual report pointed to the increasing complexity of drug addiction with 77 per cent of residential clients presenting with two or more addictions. Cocaine featured heavily. Doctors see the effects in the emergency room. 'Ask any emergency physician and they will tell you, cocaine-associated chest pains is definitely something we see in Ireland, especially in the 30s and 40s,' says Dr Lisa Cunningham, consultant in emergency medicine at Mayo University Hospital. Dr Lisa Cunningham, consultant in emergency medicine at Mayo University Hospital She has seen an increase in presentations in this age group over the past 10 years but says some patients won't tell medics of their drug use. 'Some patients may disclose their cocaine use and some may not, even when directly asked. Especially with local hospitals, community, people knowing each other, patients may be reluctant to state it.' Cunningham says 'cocaine is known as the perfect heart-attack drug,' adding that 'even recreational use, or chronic cocaine use' has a huge effect on the heart. 'It leads to stiffer blood vessels, which causes high blood pressure in the body. It is known to alter the structure of the muscle of the heart – causing it to enlarge. This can lead to heart failure as the heart can't pump properly with an enlarged muscle.' Cocaine use can be associated with the build-up of plaque in the coronary arteries – the arteries supplying the heart muscle – leading to 'blockage' heart attacks. 'If the electrical stimulant of cocaine is too much on a heart, this can lead to cardiac arrest.' People in their 30s and 40s may already have 'traditional risk factors for heart disease beginning to appear: rising cholesterol, diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, stress in life.' Adding cocaine to the equation can be 'like an accelerator to a fire,' she says. 'Cocaine tips the risk factors over the edge with monumental consequences. 'A common thing patients say to me is that they haven't had previous bad effects of cocaine, or their friends never had problems.' Cunningham says cocaine isn't made in a pharmaceutical laboratory, with healthcare professionals, quality assurance, safety and regulation checks. 'You literally do not know where this comes from in the world, nor do you know the motivation of people behind making it, besides financial gain at the expense of anyone's life,' she says. 'Every time you take cocaine, there is no regulated ingredient list, no idea what is in it, with no knowledge of what immediate effect it has on your health. That may be chest pain or it may be cardiac arrest. It does not matter if it's the first time or the fifth time. Every time you take cocaine ... the damage is being done, and there will be one time that potentially the heart will not be able to cope.' *Names have been changed
Irish Times
17 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘A lot of Indians are being targeted': Man suffers cheekbone fracture after attack by gang of teenagers in Dublin
An Indian data scientist has warned of a 'huge increase' in racist attacks after he was assaulted by a gang of youths in west Dublin. Dr Santosh Yadav was walking home after having dinner with a friend in Dublin on Sunday, July 27th, when he was attacked by 'a gang of five or six teenagers', leaving him with injuries all over his body. 'They approached me from behind and immediately smashed my glasses,' Dr Yadav said. 'They started hitting me, quite hard. They hit me in the face, on my chest, my back, my legs. Everywhere. 'They hit me so much, and then just ran away. I was on the pavement, bleeding everywhere,' he said. 'It all happened quite fast. I wasn't prepared for such things to happen'. READ MORE The assault took place near Clondalkin train station at about 11.30pm. He called gardaí and was taken by ambulance to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, where he received a CT scan on his head and a full-body X-ray. A Garda spokesperson said they 'received a report of an alleged incident of assault' and brought Dr Yadav to hospital 'for treatment of serious injuries, believed to be non-life-threatening at this time'. Investigations into the incident are ongoing, they said. Days on from the assault, Dr Yadav continues to suffer head trauma and swelling. He has a fractured cheekbone and is heavily bandaged on his hands, arms, and legs. Dr Yadav moved to Ireland from India more than four years ago. He works as a senior data scientist. He has had to take time off work to recover from the attack and while he waits for a specialist procedure in St James's Hospital to treat his fractured cheekbone. He described the assault as 'a brutal, unprovoked racist attack', although 'not an isolated incident'. Earlier this month , an Indian man was beaten, stabbed, robbed and partially stripped in an unprovoked attack by a gang in Tallaght. The father of a young infant, this man arrived in Ireland three weeks previously take up a tech job with Amazon. The Tallaght assault is being investigated as a possible hate crime by gardaí, who believe the attackers may have recently carried out similar assaults on foreign nationals in the area. 'In the last year I've seen a huge increase in these incidents,' Dr Yadav said. 'There have been incidents where two or three [Indian] students were beaten in front of me, but they haven't raised these concerns.' 'They're worried about their jobs or their studies. They're afraid to speak up. They don't want to worry people at home. 'I'm happy to share my story as much as possible because I know this is not just about me, this happens everyday. A lot of Indians are being targeted.' [ African, Brazilian communities 'lack trust' in gardaí, believe force takes 'lenient' attitude to racist attacks, report says Opens in new window ] He said the Indian community in Ireland had 'an impression that Irish people are so welcoming, so humble, such good people. I've been to almost every county in Ireland, and everyone has been so welcoming. 'I think these teenagers are destroying those values and that culture,' he said. 'I see this every day, on the bus, the Luas, the streets: teenagers just beating people up. It sometimes feels like nothing will happen, that they can keep doing these things.' In the aftermath of the assault, Dr Yadav contacted the Indian embassy in Dublin for support. He said he appreciated that some officials visited him at home while he recovered from the attack, although he wants a bigger effort to ensure people's safety. Last week members of the Indian community in Ireland met the Indian ambassador to Ireland, Akhilesh Mishra. In a statement, the Indian embassy in Dublin said there had been an increase in attacks on Indian citizens in Ireland recently and it has been in touch with the relevant authorities. 'All Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal safety and avoid deserted areas, especially in odd hours,' it said. On its social media platforms the Embassy of India urged all Indian citizens in the country to avoid going to deserted places and exercise heightened caution. The Embassy also provides emergency details for concerned or affected citizens to contact. Census figures show that there are up to 46,000 Indian citizens living in Ireland.
