Online Lecture 5: Medical perspectives

Lecturer: Prof. Oonagh Walsh, Glasgow Caledonian University (ZOOM)

Content of the lecture/ workshop: This lecture uses a history of Irish mental health to help students understand the impact that chronic mental ill-health can have on mortality rates. It discusses epigenetic change as a factor in establishing specific patterns of mental and physical ill-health that may shorten life spans, and draws upon longitudinal studies from the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Holocaust as examples.

Objectives of the lecture/ workshop: To help students to understand the impact of traumatic events such as famine and warfare on vulnerable populations. The physical and psychological stresses on the developing foetus, and the potential for transgenerational trauma transmission that may shorten life expectancy, will be discussed.

Requirements: It is advisable to review the articles to facilitate an informed discussion during class.

Recommended reading: 

• Oonagh Walsh, ‘Nature or Nurture: Epigenetic Change and the Great Famine in Ireland’ in Christine Kinealy, Ciaran Reilly and Jason King (eds) Women and the Great Hunger (Quinnipiac University Press, 2016).
• Schulz, Laura ‘The Dutch Hunger Winter and the developmental origins of health and disease’ in PNAS 107 (39) 16757-16758: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1012911107
• Kellermann NP. Epigenetic transmission of Holocaust trauma: can nightmares be inherited? Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci. 2013;50(1):33-9. PMID: 24029109: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256539887_Epigenetic_Transmission_of_Holocaust_Trauma_Can_Nightmares_Be_Inherited
• Drew, LRH. ‘Mortality and Mental Illness’ in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 2005;39(3):194-197.

Optional reading:

• Tyerman, Zachary et al , ‘History of Serious Mental Illness Is a Predictor of Morbidity and Mortality in Cardiac Surgery’ in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Volume 111, Issue 1, 109 – 116
• Lawrence, D. ‘Excess mortality, mental illness and global burden of disease’ in Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci 2015 Apr;24(2):141-3.
• Susan Finnerty, ‘Physical Health of People with Severe Mental Illness’ (Dublin: Mental Health Commission), https://www.mhcirl.ie/sites/default/files/2020-12/MHC_PhysicalHealthReport.pdf
• Walker ER, McGee RE, Druss BG. ‘Mortality in mental disorders and global disease burden implications: a systematic review and meta-analysis’ in JAMA Psychiatry, 2015 Apr;72(4):334-41.
• Richardson C, Robson A, Sood L, Ferrier IN, Owen A. ‘Mortality in the Victorian asylum: was it so high? Standardised Mortality Rate compared with historical methods’ in History of Psychiatry, 2024;0(0).
• T Roseboom, S de Rooij, R Painter, The Dutch famine and its long-term consequences for adult health. Early Hum Dev 82, 485–491 (2006).
• Ahmed, F. Epigenetics: Tales of adversity. Nature 468, S20 (2010).
• Kelly, B.D., Intellectual disability, mental illness and offending behaviour: Forensic cases from early twentieth-century Ireland, Irish Journal of Medical Science, 179, (3), 2010, p409-416

You can download the presentation slides by Prof. Oonagh Walsh in PDF here.