Eight in every 10 adults being treated for mental illness in hospitals in the State showed "clear signs" of being in crisis when they were just 18 years old, Fianna Fáil politicians were told yesterday.
The trend was outlined in a presentation on mental health given by Dr Tony Bates, founding director of Headstrong, an organisation working to improve youth mental health, and two of its staff, Emma Farrell and Tim Smyth.
Tales of "excess and tragedy" about youth violence and drink and drug-taking in the Sunday papers have led adults to fail to examine the reality of life for Irish youth today, Mr Smyth said. "That same misplaced focus is carried over to the treatment of young people with mental health difficulties. It becomes a process of dealing with symptoms rather than tackling problems at their roots," he told the meeting.
"If we are to make sincere efforts to support young people, we have to make equally sincere efforts to understand the reality of being young in contemporary Ireland. On my way to a meeting about this speech, I mentioned the subject to a taxi driver, and his reply struck me: 'My son is 14, and he has an attitude that I didn't have when I was 21.'
"Because of the responsibilities foisted upon them, and because so much is required to succeed in Celtic Tiger Ireland, young people are forced to grow up much sooner today than in days gone by," Mr Smyth added.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said the Government accepted the need to make sure services, such as schools, playgrounds and community halls are delivered at the same time as houses.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern defended the State's delivery of services in recent years, since "hundreds of thousands of people have come to our shores since 2004", he told The Irish Times. "Obviously the system has to react to that, and react as best it can."
