Mental Health 

We can help. 

If you… 

• Feel stressed, frazzled, or overwhelmed by too many problems 
• Can’t relax or switch off 
• Are Anxious or find yourself over-worrying about small things 
• Are feeling low, depressed, or unmotivated 
• Sometimes feel life is not worth living, or wondering how to escape it all 
• Prefer to avoid people or going places? 
• Are having difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep, 
• Are bothered by intrusive thoughts? 
• Suffer from poor concentration or memory? 
• Are under stress at work? 
• Are too reliant on alcohol or other substances? 
• Have multiple physical complaints for which no other cause has been found? 
• Feel like you spend too much time online, on screens or on social media 
• Work/life balance messed up, poor diet, weight gain 

You are not alone.

We are seeing a huge increase in mental health problems, a trend which began long before the Covid19 pandemic, but has gotten much worse since. 

Many of these problems are normal reactions to abnormal life situations, but it can be hard to recognise this when you are stuck in the situation. 

We will usually be able to reassure you that you are still ‘normal’ but are having an exaggerated response to excessive life stressors and other factors. 

What do I do next?  

You should book in for a 30-minute mental health assessment with one of our GPs, to get a personalised overview and insight into your individual situation. This will be followed by fortnightly reviews as needed. 

When you book in for a Mental Health Assessment with us, we do a detailed assessment of all relevant parameters to get a feel for your individual situation and make a personalised plan to help you get back to your own ‘normal’. We are trained to filter out the tiny proportion (approx. 5%) who may require psychiatric referral, and to focus on a tailored lifestyle plan for everyone else. 

We also understand that some of your symptoms could be explained by a medical reason and can arrange the necessary blood tests or other examinations to rule out underlying medical causes and manage these appropriately, if this is felt to be necessary. 

We are well positioned to advise where you might fit in the spectrum of mental health problems, based on our vast experience over many years. This often involves reassurance for you that you are still ‘normal’ but struggling and likely to benefit from help. 

We can filter out the few who have specific anxiety, panic disorder, depressive or other conditions and advise on treatment options 

What can I expect in my appointment? 

For most people, there are usually 3 main aspects to a treatment plan: 

• Lifestyle Factors. Which can include removing sources of stress, improving work/life balance, a focus on healthy diet and exercise, removing unhelpful distractions and making an effort to restore interests and hobbies. 
• Talk Therapy. We can advise you of the cost and waiting times for these. 
• Medication  

In a mental health crisis, when it feels like your world is caving in, urgent input with the help of medication and lifestyle change is usually needed before you can consider being fit to engage in talk therapy. This may involve a certificate from work for at least a couple of weeks. This often allows a much clearer view of the problems when we review a couple of weeks later. 

In some cases, we try to break the insomnia cycle first, to uncover the underlying issues. It’s amazing how much difference regaining a normal 6 or 7 hours of sleep can make. We often feel like we meet a different patient on the second visit once regular sleep has been restored. 

Similarly, we often focus on first reducing or cutting out alcohol or drugs, where this has become a crutch or form of self-medication. In some cases, we advise a community alcohol detox program where this is warranted and safe to do so. It’s very difficult to get a true picture of any underlying mental health problems until other factors are treated, such as excessive alcohol use or insomnia. 

Anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication can sometimes offer the fastest and cheapest solution. Approximately 70-80% of our patients report significant improvement within the first few weeks. 

In Ireland, these medications form an important part of the options we consider, given the cost and timeframe involved in good psychological therapies and the failure to properly resource talk therapy. However, we only offer these treatments if we feel you are suitable and likely to benefit, and it is your choice as to which therapy options you would like to try. 

Please note we don’t provide an assessment service for ADHD or autism spectrum disorders, or other specific areas which require further referral, but can advise you about where to go and make referrals as needed. 

This is an individualised assessment service, not a therapy service - we do not become your counsellor but help guide the best treatment plan.