Articles
Article
Resolutions on hold as we await return to old normal
After a year when we danced with death, our new year's promises must adjust to a new mental calendar, writes Maureen Gaffney
There is something about New Year's Eve that is slightly unsettling. As the world turns on its axis, ushering out the old year and birthing the new, there is a...
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Posted: 27 December 2020
Article
Family ties stronger than any pandemic
Government and Nphet are no match for determined grandparents who want to be with loved ones, writes Maureen Gaffney
This year has been an annus horribilis for most people, not least for those at either end of adulthood. Those in their 20s and older people have found themselves at the centre of public discourse - the...
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Posted: 29 November 2020
Article
A fitting tribute to a brilliant and passionate voyager into the mind
Biography
Psychiatrist in the Chair: The Official Biography of Anthony Clare
Brendan Kelly & Muiris Houston
Merrion Press €22.95
In the 1980s and '90s, Dr Anthony Clare, an Irishman then working and living in London, conducted a series of unique in-depth interviews on BBC Radio 4 called In the Psychiatrist's Chair, featuring artists,...
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Posted: 01 November 2020
Article
Positive outlook is key to keeping your head in this crisis
There is little in our personal or collective past to throw any light on how to live during a pandemic, writes Maureen Gaffney
We've passed the six month mark in the Covid-19 epidemic. Did you notice? Probably not. But your brain did. Monitoring the passage of time is a basic part...
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Posted: 04 October 2020
Article
Seconds out for corona round two, as battle-weary nation needs to dig deep
So here we are again, back at war with Covid-19, the uneasy summer truce with the virus well and truly over. But it took a while for that to sink in.
We were slightly shocked when the Government announced its medium-term, five-level strategy for dealing with the pandemic from...
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Posted: 20 September 2020
Article
Prolonged uncertainty is wearing down our resilience
There's evidence that shows when you treat someone as old, they start to feel and act old, writes Maureen Gaffney
Walking in Dun Laoghaire: As the summer rolls on, there is an increasing risk of lockdown fatigue.
Nobody saw this coming. Well, maybe Bill Gates did. Talk about the butterfly effect. An imperceptible happening in the...
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Posted: 17 May 2020