• Kezanne Tong, Sinead Costello, Evelyn McCabe, and Anne Marie Doherty.
• Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Galway, Newcastle Road, Galway, Ireland.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2021 May 1; 190 (2): 735-740.

BackgroundIrish Travellers are a marginalised ethnic minority with poor health outcomes, especially in mental health: the suicide rate in this population is 6-7 times that in the general population. There is a paucity of research into associated clinical risk factors including self-harm and mental illnesses.AimsTo examine the prevalence and treatments of mental disorders among Travellers attending a community mental health team (CMHT) in Galway.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study of the CMHT database, and included all Travellers who were active cases on the study day were included in this study.ResultsTravellers formed 12.4% (51 out of 410) of the active caseload of the mental health service. The mean age was 35.7 years (SD 13.1). The most common mental disorder was depressive disorder (16/51, 31.4%). Of 51 patients, 25.5% (13/51) were diagnosed with BPD: 7 had other comorbid mental disorders. Patients diagnosed with BPD are significantly more likely to be prescribed psychopharmacotherapy (t = 2.834, p = 0.007). A diagnosis of BPD was significantly associated with history of self-harm after controlling for age and gender (OR 2.3, p = 0.005).ConclusionThis study shows that there is a significant overrepresentation of Travellers in mental health services, suggesting significant need for accessible and acceptable interventions. Those with a BPD diagnosis have a significantly higher risk of self-harm, representing an ultra-high-risk population. These findings can be used to plan future service development projects to better meet the needs of this population: they may require specially adapted version of the mentalisation-based treatment programme.

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