Addressing Adolescent Mental Health in Ireland

Executive Summary

Surveys of >20,000 adolescents (aged 15-19) collected between 2018 and 2023 reveal relatively high levels of psychological distress: 20% reported poor mental health, 12% had repetitively self-harmed, and 8% had made a suicide attempt. While rates of poor mental health and suicide attempts largely returned to pre-COVID levels, repetitive self-harm continued to rise, signalling a need for universal interventions to reduce self-harm. More targeted interventions are also required to improve mental health in transgender/gender-diverse youth and early school leavers.

Background

International evidence suggests that adolescent mental health has deteriorated over the past two decades [1,2]. Compared to the adolescents of the 2000s and 2010s, adolescents of the 2020s tend to report more symptoms of depression and anxiety, and have a higher probability of being diagnosed with a mental illness [1]. Data from hospital emergency departments and population-based surveys also show rising proportions of adolescents self-harming, particularly females [3,4,5]. Growing rates of poor mental health and self-harm among adolescents constitutes a public health crisis, not only due to the profound emotional distress underlying these behaviours, but also because of the risk of suicide, and the substantial burden placed on emergency department resources. National statistics on mental health problems, self-harm and suicidal attempt for adolescents in Ireland have not been reported since before the COVID-19 pandemic (MyWorld2 study [6]). Therefore there is a need to (1) quantify the extent of these problems in Ireland post-COVID and (2) assess whether rates have changed, as observed in other countries. This policy brief presents findings from surveys of more than 20,000 adolescents across Ireland that tracked changes in mental health between 2018 and 2023. Policy implications are discussed for the education and health sectors.

Key Findings

Updated prevalence estimates

• 1 in 12 adolescents (8%) reported making a suicide attempt in their lifetime; which equates to ~2 pupils in every classroom. This is higher than estimated in previous studies in Irish adolescents.[6,7]
• Service-use gaps: Only half of adolescents (39–55%) who reported some type of psychological distress had accessed professional support, suggesting a gap between community-level distress in presentation to services.
• High-risk groups: Trans/gender-diverse youth and teens attending Youthreach centres were significantly more likely to report all types of distress (see blue and grey bars below).

Figure 1: Group differences in rates of poor mental health.

Rising rates of self-harm

• The percentage of teenagers self-harming five or more times in their lifetime increased in almost all regions. This rise was steeper in females compared to other genders.

Figure 2: Group differences in rates of poor mental health.

Policy Implications

For the education sector

Schools and further education centres are uniquely positioned to support adolescents, but we cannot burden educators with this extra responsibility. We need to:

• Evaluate school-based programmes aimed at preventing and treating mental health problems (e.g. NEART, My Friends) and invest in those proven effective.
• Embed qualified mental health professionals within education settings, particularly in alternative education centres such as Youthreach.

For mental health services

• Services (Jigsaw, CAMHS) need to be staffed and resourced to meet these current demands.
• Training on gender inclusivity needs to be mandated for CAMHS staff; community-based peer support must be expanded for trans and gender-diverse youth.

For further research

• Continue funding bi-annual surveillance of adolescent mental health via the Planet Youth survey.
• We need to better understand what factors drive self-harm, particularly in young girls.
• We should link community-based surveys like Planet Youth with the National Self-Harm Registry to triangulate self-reporting data and hospital data.

Further information

The Planet Youth survey:

• As of 2025, the Planet Youth survey has been conducted in 12 counties across Ireland (see Fig 3). Data from 6 counties were available at the time of this study.
• Every school and educational centre in participating regions are invited to participate. Response rates are generally high (>90% of secondary schools).
• Within schools, all students who completed the Junior Certificate exams the previous year are invited to participate (i.e., current transition year and 5th year). Student participation rates are also high (~80% on average) due to an opt-out consent process (i.e., parents must return a form to the school if they do not want their child to participate).
• The survey takes place every two years in participating schools, between October and December.
• The survey contains ~80 questions on the lives of young people.
• Much of the data is publicly accessible on the Irish Social Science Data Archive. Reports on the findings from specific regions  are available on https://planetyouth.ie/regions/
• The Planet Youth study in each region is funded and governed locally, with involvement from Children and Young People’s Services Committees (CYPSC), regional Drug and Alcohol Taskforces (DATF), local Education and Training Boards (ETB), and other agencies.

Figure 3: Regions of Ireland participating in the Planet Youth survey

Contact details: Dr Niamh Dooley  niamhdooley@rcsi.com

You can read the full paper here.

References

1. McGorry PD, Mei C, Dalal N, Alvarez-Jimenez M, et al. (2024) The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health. Lancet Psychiatry 11(9):731–774. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(24)00163-9
2. Castelpietra G, Knudsen AKS, Agardh EE, et al. (2022) The burden of mental disorders, substance use disorders and self-harm among young people in Europe, 1990–2019. Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe 16 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100341
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Self-Harm All Causes Nonfatal Emergency Department Visits and Rates per 100,000. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. https://wisqars.cdc.gov/reports/?o=NFI&y1=2010&y2=2023&d=0&i=2&m=3000&g=00&me=&s=0&r=0&ry=2&e=0&a=5Yr&g1=10&g2=15&a1=0&a2=199&r1=YEAR&r2=SEX&r3=NONE&r4=NONE&adv=true . Accessed 27 May 2025 
4. Joyce M, Chakraborty S, Hursztyn P, Camien McGuiggan J, Nicholson S, Arensman E, Griffin E, Williamson E, Corcoran P (2024) National Self-Harm Registry Ireland Annual Report 2021. National Suicide Research Foundation, Cork
5. Cybulski L, Ashcroft DM, Carr MJ, Garg S, Chew-Graham CA, Kapur N, Webb RT (2021) Temporal trends in annual incidence rates for psychiatric disorders and self-harm among children and adolescents in the UK, 2003–2018. BMC Psychiatry 21(1):229. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-021-03235-w
6. Dooley B, O’Connor C, Fitzgerald A, O’Reilly A (2019) My world survey 2: the National study of youth mental health in Ireland. University College Dublin & Jigsaw, Dublin, Ireland
7. Brunner R, Kaess M, Parzer P, et al. (2014) Life-time prevalence and psychosocial correlates of adolescent direct self-injurious behavior: a comparative study of findings in 11 European countries. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 55(4):337–348. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12166