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The conference, organised by the Mater Hospital and University College Dublin, brought together a wide variety of Irish and International professionals involved in mental health services for adolescents to hear the most up-to-date information available on the treatment of depression, eating disorders, substance abuse and ADHD.
Mental health disorders cause significant problems in adolescence and impact on the young person’s relationships and ability to function at home, in school, and with peers. Approximately 2% of Irish adolescents have a mental health disorder which is affecting them in this way. Rates of suicide in young Irish people are among the highest in Europe, and many young people who die by suicide have unrecognised and untreated mental health disorders, especially depression. The conference addressed many of the most common mental health disorders, and showed that effective treatments are available.
Dr. James Lock from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science at Stanford University, California addressed the conference on the ‘Critical Appraisal of Family Treatment for Adolescent Eating Disorders – What we don’t know yet.’ He told attendees that families have been blamed for far too long for causing anorexia nervosa in their children. He said there was a total lack of evidence to support this view and stated that because parents were blamed for the eating disorder, they were excluded from the participation in caring for their afflicted offspring.
Dr. Lock said, “Current treatment research suggests that rather than being excluded from treatment, parents are perhaps the best resource to combat this illness by re-feeding their children at home.” Dr. Lock likened how we treat parents and families of children with eating disorders to the days when we blamed parents for other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. “We need to become allies in our struggle to combat anorexia nervosa as partners in treatment,” commented Dr. Lock. “We need to become advocates for appropriate treatment resources to address the disorder and champions for the need for systematic research on the etiology and treatment.”
Dr. Bernadka Dubicka, Locum Consultant and Honorary Lecturer at the University of Manchesters presented the results of a UK based trial in persistent moderate to severe adolescent depression (the ADAPT study). This trial is important as it’s the first antidepressant trial in adolescent depression in the UK. This study aimed to include the most severe, suicidal and complex cases, which are usually excluded from such trials.
“Our study showed that there was no additional benefit of adding a specific psychological therapy (cognitive behavioural therapy) to antidepressants and treatment as usual in a child and adolescent mental health service setting in these types of cases. In other words, young people did just as well with routine care. We also found that some young people (20%) responded quickly with a brief psychosocial intervention and did not require further treatment in the trial,” commented Dr. Dubicka
She went on to say that, “Adolescent depression is a relatively common and serious disorder with significant consequences for the young person affected. It is important for families to seek help sooner rather than later if they are concerned, as effective treatments are available, as well as support for the family.”
Further education about depression for those in contact with children and adolescents is needed so young people can access services quicker. Dr. Dubicka called for increased resources for specialist child and adolescent mental health clinics so appropriate treatment can be provided quickly along with more research funding for treatment trials in the most severely affected adolescents who are at highest risk of suicide. She said that this group has been neglected in studies and more information about the most effective treatment for them is needed.
The results of a number of innovative group programmes for young people and for parents which form part of the Mater Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service were presented at the conference. Diane Beattie, Research Psychologist, UCD presented her evaluation of the Parents Plus Adolescent Programme. This group programme helps parents to help their young people who are struggling with behavioural or emotional difficulties, and provides parents with the opportunity to meet other parents, which cuts down on their sense of isolation. Research has shown it to be effective and that helping parents has a very positive effect on their children.
“Child and adolescent mental health professionals in Ireland struggle on a daily basis to cope with waiting lists and a serious lack of inpatient treatment facilities. Despite this, they manage to help large numbers of adolescents and their families,” said Professor Carol Fitzpatrick of University College Dublin. “Today’s conference is a celebration of the ‘everyday work’ of these services.”
About the Mater
The hospital has 605 beds including day beds and approximately 2620 WTE, 1101 of which are nursing staff.
It is a university teaching hospital providing acute and tertiary specialist services.
The Mater Hospital is the main voluntary general hospital serving the north inner city of Dublin. The population of its catchment area is approximately 170,000.
Annually the hospital has approximately 15,000 admissions (emergency admissions 8,600 other non-elective 3000 and elective 3,400).
Over 27,000 patients attend for day cases and 50,000 patients attend the emergency department each year.
Outpatient attendances exceed 155,000 and 14,500 operations are performed. There are 3.6m lab tests performed and approximately 134,000 x-ray procedures.
It is the national centre for Cardiothoracic surgery and transplantation, Spinal injuries, Pulmonary Hypertension and is the major accident and emergency hospital serving Dublin's inner city. Other specialities include ophthalmology, nephrology, infectious diseases, psychiatry, ear nose and throat, dermatology, rheumatology, endocrinology, neurology, general surgery and orthopaedics.
In addition to medical and nursing training, it has significant teaching and research commitments in association with the largest University in Ireland, University College Dublin. These teaching and research commitments range from diagnostic radiology, oncology, cardiology, and other clinical specialities to healthcare informatics.
Major achievements include:
1. Mater Campus Development;
2. National Paediatric Hospital to be located on the Mater Campus;
3. First double lung transplant procedure ever undertaken in the State took place in the Mater. In 2006 nine lung transplants (three double) with 12 lung transplants performed since the start of the programme in 2005;
4. In 2006 ten heart transplants were performed with 250 heart transplants performed since the start of the programme in 1985;
5. First major academic teaching hospital in Ireland to become accredited by the Irish Health Service Accreditation Board (IHSAB);
6. PET / CT service opened - private public partnership;
7. In 2006 the official opening of the 33 bedded MED / Transit Unit and Clinical Decision Unit, new convent building, the hostel building and the Centre for Nurse education; and
8. UCD Mater Clinical Research Centre was established in 2006, currently supporting more than 40 research projects. Among the research trials are studies of stroke, cancer, HIV, lung disease, diabetes and retinal transplantation.
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caroline.kohn[.]scomms.ie 
