{"id":581204,"date":"2026-05-13T06:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/581204\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T06:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:19:13","slug":"renowned-psychiatrist-praises-mental-health-benefits-of-learning-irish-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/581204\/","title":{"rendered":"Renowned psychiatrist praises mental health benefits of learning Irish \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

An internationally renowned psychiatrist has highlighted the mental health<\/a> benefits of learning Irish.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Visiting west Belfast<\/a> on Monday, Dr Pat Bracken argued that the \u201cover medicalised\u201d approach of mental health services throughout the UK and Ireland had become \u201ca disaster\u201d. <\/p>\n

Previously a Clinical Director of mental health services in west Cork, he has also consulted for the World Health Organization as well as working in Uganda to support victims of wartime violence.<\/p>\n

Describing himself as a \u2018critical psychologist,\u2019 his work challenges many of the current practices in mental health services.<\/p>\n

\"Hotel<\/a>\"Loyalist<\/a>\"DrDr Pat Bracken, a critical psychiatrist based in Cork at an event in west Belfast supporting New Script for Mental Health campaign to explore alternative solutions to the mental health crisis. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN <\/p>\n

He was speaking at an event hosted by the Irish language organisation Gl\u00f3r na M\u00f3na and campaign group New Script for Mental Health.<\/p>\n

The groups say that those in deprived areas like the Upper Springfield Road are too often limited to anti-depressants and six sessions of talking therapy \u201cif people are lucky\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Bracken said this was having \u201ca devastating impact\u201d for both patients and staff in mental health services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m learning that there are a lot of difficulties, but there\u2019s also a very strong sense of community in this part of Belfast,\u201d he told The Irish News.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople living here haven\u2019t always found answers by asking the state, in fact for a long time all the people up here got from the state was trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they have found their own solutions over the years, looking to one another for solidarity and that\u2019s what I\u2019m seeing here in the community groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Irish language is a very important part of peoples\u2019 identity and it\u2019s significant that Irish language groups are working with community groups around issues like mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Pat Bracken, a critical psychiatrist based in Cork with Sara Boyce from New Script for Mental Health. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN <\/p>\n

He said the lack of funding for mental health services in Northern Ireland was also a common experience in the UK and Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile some people have had very good experiences of mental health services, there\u2019s no denying that there\u2019s a large constituency of people who haven\u2019t and even some who feel they have been harmed by their encounters with mental health services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t be ignored, it can be difficult but we have to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DrDr Pat Bracken, a critical psychiatrist based in Cork with Feargal Mac Ionnrachtaigh at an event in west Belfast supporting New Script for Mental Health campaign to explore alternative solutions to the mental health crisis. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN <\/p>\n

Part of his views were formed during three years with an NGO in Uganda in the late 1980s, helping to care for victims of torture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned there the limitations of highly individualised or westernised ways of looking at trauma and mental health problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started to learn about the importance of how indigenous communities have healing strategies and ways of supporting one another through very difficult times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a young doctor when I was there and that was a big learning point for me in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

While accepting that many mental health patients legitimately need medication, he said this did not always have to be the case for \u201clesser states\u201d of depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cGPs are doing the best they can, but they\u2019re under pressure for time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can get community solutions in place before people need to go to see their doctor, you can divert the river from flowing towards GPs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be the creative arts, outdoor activities like gardening or swimming in the sea. Learning a language is extremely important and people up here feel empowered when they connect with the Irish language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maura Campbell from the New Script group also called a new community garden at Newhill Youth and Community Centre as \u201ca perfect antidote\u201d to many mental health problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps people reconnect with themselves, with each other, and with nature, while bringing together everyone in the community, young and old,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an older local resident and New Script activist, this work fills me with hope for a radically different, more human approach to mental health \u2013 one rooted in community, connection and creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An internationally renowned psychiatrist has highlighted the mental health benefits of learning Irish. Visiting west Belfast on Monday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[102,69223,61276,1906,6623,56,54,55,25888],"class_list":["post-581204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-health-and-social-care","tag-irish","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-west-belfast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}