Did the Great Irish Famine increase schizophrenia?

How much schizophrenia do famines cause?

Since the 1970s, famines have been widely invoked as natural experiments in research into the long-term impact of foetal exposure to nutritional shocks. That research has produced compelling evidence for a robust link between foetal exposure and the odds of developing schizophrenia. However, the implications of that research for the human cost of famines in the longer run have not been investigated. We address the connection between foetal origins and schizophrenia with that question in mind. The impact turns out to be very modest-much less than one per cent of the associated famine death tolls-across a selection of case studies.

The Great Irish Famine (1845-52) and the Irish asylum system: remembering, forgetting, and remembering again

The Great Irish Famine (1845-52) saw the Irish population fall by 20% as one million people died and another million emigrated. The Famine occurred at a time when the Irish asylums were growing rapidly anyway, so its precise effects on mental health are difficult although not impossible to study. Three groups merit consideration. First, for adults living through the Famine, starvation and poverty contributed to the continued rise in asylum presentations. Second, babies in utero during the Famine were reported to have accounted for an increase in first admissions when they reached the high-risk age for mental illness (1860-75). Third, the possibility of epigenetic effects (inherited changes in gene expression) as a result of Famine has been discussed as a possible mechanism whereby Famine survivors might have passed on experiences of physical and psychological trauma to their children and subsequent generations in a lasting, biological way. Intriguing as it is, this hypothesis requires further study, as does the distinctly uneven historiography of the Famine in relation to the Irish mental hospitals.

The socio-demographic and clinical profiles of patients admitted to the Sligo District Lunatic Asylum in the late 19th century with some modern comparisons

Purpose

The purpose of this paper has been to identify and describe the demographic, social and clinical characteristics of persons admitted to an Irish district lunatic asylum in the late 19th century as exemplified by the records of the Sligo District Lunatic Asylum. Some 21st century comparisons and epidemiological considerations from the same catchment area have been attempted.

Method

The register entries and case books of a series of consecutive admissions to Sligo District Asylum during the decade 1892–1901 were surveyed in the Irish National Archive.

Conclusions

Most admitted patients were of lower socio-economic status, the majority male, poorly literate, unmarried and described as suffering from mania or melancholia. Most were first admissions. The predominant (62.5%) reason given for admission was for assault or threat of assault. These admissions were by order of the Lord Lieutenant as ‘dangerous lunatics’. Although it may be maintained that this admission process was a device of social convenience to maintain the peace and integrity of local communities and the convenience of families, clinical information indicates that the majority of admissions had symptoms of mental disorder recognisable in terms of 21st century psychiatric diagnostics.