Mental health advocate Majella O’Donnell has urged people never to hesitate to tell others when they need help.
Having lived with depression since her late teens and being on medication since her mid-30s, Majella said she had always managed to pull herself out of difficult periods.
However, in 2024, things became overwhelming, and on advice from her GP, she entered inpatient care at a psychiatric hospital.
Majella has opened up about the turning point she had during that 10 week stay, which came at her lowest time.
“I just went back to that dark old place again and I could not get out of it,” Majella told Oliver Callan on RTE Radio 1.
“I felt I’d had enough of this, I can’t do this anymore.”
Majella said she felt exhausted and emotionally shut down.
“I was just sitting in a corner of the room, dead inside almost,” she recalled.
“I felt this time, I give up, and I relinquish myself to the professionals.”
This was Majella’s first time being hospitalised for clinical depression, and it took her several weeks before she felt able to reconnect with those closest to her, including her husband Daniel and her children.
“I was completely burnt out when I went in. I don’t think I spoke to Daniel or my daughter or anybody for five weeks when I went in because I had nothing to say at all,” she said.
The reason, she said, was being unable to answer the ‘how are you’ question.
Majella is now thankfully in a better place with her mental health, but shares an important message about one the most difficult aspects of depression – how quickly it can erase memories of better times.
“I’ve been grand now since I came out,” she said. “Two or three years could pass, and when you go down into that dark hole again it doesn’t feel like you’ve had good years, you feel ‘Oh my God, I’m back in this place again’.”
While the experience was extremely difficult, Majella believes it was something she needed to do.
Now on different medication and focusing on maintaining her wellbeing, Majella is an advocate for balancing coping mechanisms with professional help.
“It was a tough time, but it needed to be done. I won’t say it will never happen again because you live with it, it never goes.
“All you can do is keep hoping and trying to stay positive.”
Majella’s message to others is to never struggle in silence. Seek help when you need it.
“You can try on your own, lots of times you can cope with it, but the last time I couldn’t cope with it anymore. It’s always good to go and speak to the doctor and tell them how you’re feeling.”
Daniel and Majella O’Donnell will be appearing on High Road, Low Road today, Tuesday at 7pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
If you need support, help is available from a wide range of agencies:
Connecting for Life
‘There is a way out of the darkness’ – Majella finds hope after psychiatric hospital stay was last modified: January 20th, 2026 by Staff Writer
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