{"id":113587,"date":"2025-11-03T19:39:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/113587\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T19:39:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:39:15","slug":"psychosis-patients-more-likely-victims-of-violence-than-perpetrators-says-research-co-ordinator-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/113587\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychosis patients more likely victims of violence than perpetrators, says research co-ordinator \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

People who experience psychosis are \u201cmore likely to be victims of violence\u201d than to be the source of it, according to the first co-ordinator of a pioneering psychosis research centre at the St John of God Foundation in Dublin. <\/p>\n

Conor Gavin, from Galway<\/a>, brings experience of the condition to the role, having lived through a \u201csurreal and visceral\u201d episode of psychosis<\/a> in his teens. <\/p>\n

He wants the voices of those who have lived with the condition to be at the heart of the centre\u2019s work, and to dispel myths about psychosis, which affects about 1 per cent of the population. <\/p>\n

\u201cAround 45,000 people in Ireland are affected by psychosis at any one time. So, it\u2019s not that rare,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Psychosis is a mental state where a person loses a degree of contact with reality. They may have hallucinations that lead them to see or hear things that are not real; delusions where they believe things that are not real, and become confused and agitated. <\/p>\n

In Gavin\u2019s case, he was 16 when psychosis came on \u201cvery out of the blue\u201d. <\/p>\n

He experienced delusions, paranoia and believed he was \u201cat the centre of some kind of a plot or a conspiracy\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou think it\u2019s fully real … you believe [the delusions] and you\u2019re fully committed to the fact that you\u2019re in this conspiracy and in this world that you have sort of created in your head,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cMine was probably building slowly from about the end of November 2014 and kind of culminated in a heightened situation.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Teens presenting at EDs with psychosis from legal, semi-synthentic cannabis vaping product, says leading psychiatristOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Gavin\u2019s family brought him to the emergency department on Christmas day 2014 and he was admitted to a child and adolescent mental health bed. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the psychiatrist having to sit down with my parents and my family, having to explain the situation, go through the care plan … [and reassure them] the prognosis was quite good. And I did recover quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AfterAfter finishing a science degree in the University of Galway, Conor Gavin went on to complete a masters in clinical neuroscience.
\nPhotograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy <\/p>\n

While clinicians could not explain why he had experienced psychosis \u2013 it may have been stress \u2013 they reassured him he could return to school and live his life. <\/p>\n

However, he did not tell friends or most of his teachers what had happened. There is both \u201cpublic, social stigma\u201d and \u201cself stigma\u201d or \u201cmisplaced shame\u201d about psychosis, he says. <\/p>\n

He struggled with lows in energy and motivation as well as manic episodes. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Young adult mental health: \u2018Stigma and embarrassment still play a significant role in reluctance to seek help\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In 2019, Gavin was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder \u2013 a \u201ctype of psychotic disorder\u201d \u2013 which can affect his mood. <\/p>\n

He finds now he is better abstaining from alcohol, getting regular sleep and he takes medication. He has, since 2020, had a \u201csustained and stable recovery\u201d. <\/p>\n

After finishing a science degree in the University of Galway, he went on to complete a masters in clinical neuroscience.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an association, I suppose in the media with violence \u2013 that people with schizophrenia or psychosis are violent<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Conor Gavin<\/p>\n

His \u201cpassion\u201d was in supporting people with mental health challenges as a peer support worker, where he used his personal experience to help those earlier in their recovery. <\/p>\n

In his new job, Gavin\u2019s experience will bring insight and also demonstrate that recovery from psychosis is very achievable. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real lack of positive recovery stories,\u201d he says. \u201cWe see a lot of negative, pejorative descriptions of psychosis \u2013 in books, films, movies TV shows. There\u2019s an association, I suppose in the media with violence \u2013 that people with schizophrenia or psychosis are violent. I feel very strongly about this \u2013 that they\u2019re actually more likely to be victims of violence than to be violent ourselves.<\/p>\n

Recovery from psychosis is fully achievable<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Conor Gavin<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve met plenty of people [who have experienced psychosis] and I\u2019ve never met anyone that was violent, so it\u2019s really important to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The research centre will \u201charness research activity and co-ordinate efforts across\u201d the St John of God group and \u201coffer the opportunity to strengthen collaborations nationally with other leading specialists in the area,\u201d said a spokeswoman for the organisation. <\/p>\n

The real experiences of patients will be \u201cembedded\u201d in the work, she added. <\/p>\n

\u201cRecovery from psychosis is fully achievable,\u201d says Gavin. \u201cI want to help spread that positive message far and wide. The lived experience movement is growing in Ireland and across the world and is making a huge difference. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to grow this further and empower those who want their voice heard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People who experience psychosis are \u201cmore likely to be victims of violence\u201d than to be the source of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[22420,56829,163,9411,85,46,522,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-113587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-dublin","9":"tag-galway","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-wellness","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}