Cannabis has been implicated in the origin of depression, psychosis and schizophrenia. Cannabis can lead to anxiety, panic attacks and paranoia. There is also growing evidence that cannabis use damages the developing brain in persons under the age of twenty one. Cannabis use in the longer term is associated with short term memory defects, difficulty with concentration, motivation and difficulty with problem solving.

The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland is pleased to announce the election of Dr Ruth Loane as the next President of the College.

The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland has ongoing concerns about funding for mental health services, and points out the unequal treatment for those with mental illness compared with those with physical illness.

Sitting today, The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications discussed the implications of possible legislation on the banning of drinks company’s sponsorship for major sporting events. Speaking on behalf of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, in favour of the introduction of this legislation, was Dr William Flannery, Chair of the College’s Faculty of Addictions Psychiatry and Consultant in Addictions Psychiatry, and Dr Eamon Keenan, member of the Faculty and Consultant in Addictions Psychiatry.

The 5th Annual Spring Conference of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, held recently in Athlone, was attended by circa 450 delegates over the two day event. The programme included stimulating presentations from international and national speakers as well as interactive workshops on varied but up to date topics and included participation and attendance by service users and carers both from the College REFOCUS group (Recovery Experience Forum of Cares and Users of Services) and from other similar groups.

NUIG medical students have won the annual Spike Milligan Public Speaking Competition for the third time since the competition began in 1999 and in close second as runners up was the RCSI team.

For the second year running the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland has chosen to focus some of its work on a particular theme within mental health services. For 2012, that theme was the Homelessness and Mental Illness and for 2013 it is ‘Youth Mental Health’.

UCD Medical Students were treated to an engaging selection of films on the theme, ‘The Power of Medicine’, at the launch of ‘MedFest’ in UCD cinema this week.

The professional body for psychiatrists in Ireland has changed its name to ‘College of Psychiatrists of Ireland’, effective immediately. Following a motion at the College of Psychiatry of Ireland AGM last year (2012) and a subsequent ballot to members of the College the decision was taken to change the name from January 2013.

The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland is hosting its annual Spike Milligan Public Speaking Competition next Wednesday, 6th March, 6.30pm, in the Sugar Club, Dublin. The competition aims to raise awareness of mental
health issues among the general public and particularly to foster and promote communication skills around mental health issues among the medical student community from the seven medical schools in Ireland.

The recent annual NCHD Conference „Beyond Memberships – Getting the most out of Training’, organised by the dedicated working group of the Trainee Committee of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland (CPsychI) was a great success, with over one hundred NCHD‟s in attendance the Hilton Hotel, Kilmainham, Dublin.

The annual medical film festival “MedFest” will premiere in UCD’s new state-of-the-art multimedia cinema on 25th February 2013. Building on a successful tour of 20 universities in the UK, this year MedFest is launching in Ireland, co-hosted by ‘PSYCHED’ (UCD Psychiatry Special Interest Group), UCD MedSoc and the Trainee Committee of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland. The event was pioneered by the Trainee Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2011.