Compulsory psychiatric detention rate is high

Non-voluntary admissions to psychiatric hospitals are much higher in this State than in other EU countries, according to a new report. The Irish rate is almost three times Italy's and 50 per cent higher than for England and Wales.

There were more than 25,000 admissions to Irish psychiatric hospitals and units last year, according to the Health Research Board report, Activities of Irish Psychiatric Services 1999, prepared by Ms Antoinette Daly and Dr Dermot Walsh.

Enforced admissions were high at 11 per cent of the total, the report stated, with a near twofold difference between the lowest (North-Eastern Health Board) and highest (Western Health Board).

Nearly twice as many single people were admitted compared to married people, the authors found. The 45 to 54 age group was the most likely to be admitted and more men than women attended psychiatric hospitals or units last year.

Unskilled workers had the highest rate of admission and were more than six times more likely to be admitted than employers and managers.

The most likely reasons for admission were depressive disorders (30 per cent of all admissions); schizophrenia (19 per cent); and alcoholic disorders (19 per cent). Three times more men than women were admitted for alcoholic disorders, but 30 per cent more women than men were admitted for depressive disorders.

The rates of first admissions to psychiatric hospitals had shown little change over 35 years. The total admission rate, however, which included read-missions, was almost 50 per cent higher than in 1965.