DoP Seminar - Prof Mary Cannon

The May Division of Psychiatry hybrid meeting will be held on Wednesday 17^th May at 3pm.

Professor Mary Cannon MD, FRCPsych, MSc, PhD, Can we prevent psychosis

Abstract: Prevention is the new frontier for psychiatry. We cannot continue to ignore the example set by other medical fields, such as cardiology, and oncology and their outstanding achievement in reducing the toll of cancer and heart disease in the population. The dividends of prevention are potentially much greater for mental health than for physical health because mental illness has its onset in youth and the “knock-on” effects on social, health and justice systems are substantial. The field of psychiatry should now shift its focus to a public mental health approach and face up to the “grand challenge” of prevention for the sake of our youth and future generations In order to initiate preventive measures we must know more about the risk and protective factors for mental illness in young people. Using data from Irish population-based studies, I will present our recent findings on protective factors for mental health in youth with a particular emphasis on psychotic experiences. These findings give a blueprint to how to approach prevention. These data will show that fostering self-esteem, improving parent-child relationships, promoting secure attachment relationships with trusted others and reducing bullying will all play a part in improving outcomes for young people at-risk of mental disorder. I will discuss how we can build on this work to intervene in those showing early signs of psychopathology.

Biography: Mary Cannon is Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ireland and a consultant psychiatrist in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. Her area of research interest is young people’s mental health, with a particular interest in psychosis and identifying early life risk and protective factors for later mental disorder. Her research is funded by the European Research Council and the Health Research Board (Ireland). She has been named on the Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher list in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Professor Cannon is interested in advocacy in the field of mental health and has served on a governmental Task Force on Youth Mental Health (2017) and a ministerial rapid response group on Substance Use in Third Level Students (2019). She is currently vice president of the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland and vice-chair of the Youth and Student Psychiatry Faculty. She is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a member of the Executive committee of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. She serves on the Editorial Boards for the British Journal of Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Bulletin and the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine.