University and Happiness: A look at student mental health during the transition and experience of third-level education
Upon beginning in UCD as a freshman, what will be surprising to many is the degree of loneliness that can be felt on campus. Compared to a school environment, it’s suddenly a lot harder to catch up with friends. As…
Opinion: You don’t have an Anxiety Disorder (Probably)
In order to qualify for a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, there are several criteria that must be met according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. One of the main criteria is irrational and excessive levels of stress and worry…
USI Reveal Groundbreaking Mental Health Survey Results
On August 27th, the Union of Student’s Ireland (USI) revealed the results of a monumental survey on the mental health of Ireland’s student population. This survey provides reliable self-reported figures that will provide lobbyists sufficient evidence to demand action from…
Opinion: We Deserve Better Than UCDSU’s Project 392 Mental Health Campaign
CW: Mental Illness, Suicide 392: It’s the number of suicides the Central Statistics Office recorded for 2017 in Ireland. UCD students have probably had enough of seeing this number, on black posters plastered across campus or posted ominously on…
Getting Through Your Mid-College Crisis
Ah the Mid-College Crisis! That abominable feeling that sweeps you off your feet at the halfway point of college, with the realisation that you’re almost out in the real world, fending for yourself. It’s the sudden and rapid understanding that…
Mental Health Commission Rejects Claims of Discriminatory Remarks
Ashimedua Okonkwo, a solicitor based in Balbriggan, has claimed that the Mental Health Commission tribunal subjected her to discriminatory remarks because she is ‘a woman and a black African’. The tribunal was considering the continued detention of a woman under…
UCD To Introduce Online Mental Program SilverCloud On Campus
UCD has purchased Silver Cloud, an online mental health platform, and is planning to launch the programme during Mental Health Week. SilverCloud is a cloud-based service that provides ‘therapeutic and psycho-education programmes’. The programme was developed over ten years by…
Mental Health Awareness Week Comes to Campus
Mental Health Awareness Week is taking place from Monday 9th of April to Thursday 12th of April. The designation of a week to the promotion of mental health awareness is done with the aims of educating students and staff about…
Mindfulness & Me
I recently discovered mindfulness, specifically mindfulness meditation, through a book called Wherever You Go, There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Mindfulness isn’t a new concept to me. I had encountered it before and had a vague idea of what it…
Sick Parents & The Illness Paradox
How do you cope when a parent is ill? You look after them by bringing them soup and doing more chores and running errands normally. But what happens when you have a parent who is sick with an illness that…
Positive Psychology: A New Path to Happiness?
Psychology is a word that is casually thrown around in conversation, and is usually taken to mean the study of the mind, in particular the ‘abnormal mind’. One could be forgiven for thinking that psychology is a discipline that focuses…
UCD Residences Under Fire Over Lack of Adequate Mental Health Facilities
RAs concerned over lack of out-of-hours support for students in UCD Residences 3 RAs and 1 SRA have already quit their roles this year Some SRAs unhappy with level of training provided to handle mental health issues The lack of…