Martin Daly on 'mental disorder' definition - urges clinical clarity
Martin Daly said the term 'mental health difficulties' is too broad and urged use of the clinical definition of 'mental disorder' to describe enduring conditions that cause significant impairment. He argued the definition covers continuous or intermittent illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, and severe anxiety or depression, and warned against conflating those with transient low mood.
Martin Daly argued that language matters and that 'mental health difficulties' can be too broad to capture serious, persistent conditions. He emphasised the need to distinguish transient stress or a bad day from diagnoses that cause ongoing disability.
He quoted the definition under discussion that mental disorder "means in relation to a person, any mental illness or mental health difficulty, whether of a continuous or intermittent nature, which seriously affects the person's thinking, perception, emotion, mood or judgment, leading to significant impairment of the mental function of the person." He stressed the definition must be taken in full and not selectively.
He identified schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, and persistent anxiety and depression as conditions that meet the clinical threshold for mental disorder, highlighting that these can be enduring or intermittent and result in significant functional impairment.
He warned against trivialising clinical conditions by labeling commonplace experiences - such as having a bad day or temporary stress - as mental disorder. He framed the issue as one of clinical judgment and the importance of precision when applying the definition, responding directly to a Deputy's remarks.
Main argument
Martin Daly argued that language matters and that 'mental health difficulties' can be too broad to capture serious, persistent conditions. He emphasised the need to distinguish transient stress or a bad day from diagnoses that cause ongoing disability.
Definition cited
He quoted the definition under discussion that mental disorder "means in relation to a person, any mental illness or mental health difficulty, whether of a continuous or intermittent nature, which seriously affects the person's thinking, perception, emotion, mood or judgment, leading to significant impairment of the mental function of the person." He stressed the definition must be taken in full and not selectively.
Clinical examples
He identified schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, and persistent anxiety and depression as conditions that meet the clinical threshold for mental disorder, highlighting that these can be enduring or intermittent and result in significant functional impairment.
Language and consequences
He warned against trivialising clinical conditions by labeling commonplace experiences - such as having a bad day or temporary stress - as mental disorder. He framed the issue as one of clinical judgment and the importance of precision when applying the definition, responding directly to a Deputy's remarks.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Other speeches
Tego samego dnia All speeches from this day →
Danny Healy-Rae
Danny Healy-Rae Defends Local Vet Service Amid SI Concerns
Victor Boyhan
Victor Boyhan on Institutional Abuse: Thanks, Memory, Progress
Victor Boyhan
Victor Boyhan backs CSAM term change, seeks clarity on 43 amendments
Joe O'Reilly
Joe O'Reilly Urges Government Action to Save Wellman Jobs
Michael Fitzmaurice
Michael Fitzmaurice warns SI risks losing small livestock suppliers
Sharon Keogan
Sharon Keogan cites report: a child disappears every two minutes
Transcript
Again, it's not, it's not the, language is important and I suppose trying to come up with language that pleases everyone is difficult. But mental health difficulties and psychosocial disorders, they're just too broad a term for some of the conditions that we're talking about. And certainly my understanding of mental health disorder would be, is someone who has a clinically diagnosed condition that is persistent and is causing ongoing disability to that person. So we're talking about people with schizophrenia, people with bipolar affective disorder, people with persistent anxiety and depression. So I think that mental health difficulties is just too broad a term and it encompasses things that may well be just transient and affect mental well-being or our health, which is things like we could be having a bad day, that's a mental health difficulty. Or I'm stressed today, that's a mental health difficulty. Tomorrow I feel better because I had a good night's sleep. I don't want to trivialise it, but I do think we need to give weight to the conditions such as psychotic conditions where people are seriously ill or people who have neurotic conditions who have severe persistent symptoms that are dysfunctional. I think we've got to give weight to that. And I think at this time that's probably the best term. So the mental disorder, as per the definition, means in relation to a person, any mental illness or mental health difficulty, whether of a continuous or intermittent nature, you have to take it in the round, not just one part of it, whether of a continuous or intermittent nature, which seriously affects the person's thinking, perception, emotion, mood or judgment, leading to significant impairment of impairment of the mental function of the person. So Deputy, you just can't decide to take part of the definition which says mental disorder means any mental illness. You have to take the full wording that goes with it, whether of a continuous or intermittent nature, which seriously affects the person's thinking, perception, emotion, mood or judgment. So I don't see a mental disorder as defining somebody's personal well-being or their peace of mind on a particular day. What I see a mental disorder is a clinical judgment in relation to someone who may have an enduring mental health condition, who may have continuous mental health condition, who may have an intermittent mental health condition, which seriously affects the person's thinking, perception, emotion, emotion, mood or judgment, leading to significant impairment of the mental function of the person. I'm not trying to split hairs here, but Deputy, when you're referring to the definition of what a mental disorder is, you need to read the whole paragraph. Thank you.