Hearing voices can affect more than 20% of young adolescents, a psychiatry study in Great Britain has found.
Researchers discovered auditory hallucination has an impact on 21% to 23% of children aged between 11 and 13 in Ireland.
More than half of those who heard voices – 57% – were also found to have a psychiatric disorder following clinical assessment.
Nearly 2,500 children, aged between 11 and 16, were assessed four times for the study, funded by the Health Research Board (HRB).
Lead researcher Dr Ian Kelleher revealed auditory hallucinations can vary from hearing an isolated sentence now and then to hearing conversations between two or more people lasting for several minutes.
“It may present like screaming or shouting and other times it could sound like whispers or murmurs,” said Dr Kelleher, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
“It varies greatly from child to child, and frequency can be once a month to once every day.”
The study showed auditory hallucinations stop for many children as they get older, with 7% of older adolescents (aged 13-16) hearing voices.
However nearly 80% of the teens who continued to hear voices also had a psychiatric disorder, linking auditory hallucinations and serious mental illness.
The research has been published online by the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Professor Mary Cannon said it suggests hearing voices seems to be more common in children than was previously thought.
“In most cases these experiences resolve with time,” she Prof Cannon, HRB clinician scientist at the RCSI and Beaumont Hospital.
“However in some children these experiences persist into older adolescence and this seems to be an indicator that they may have a complex mental health issue and require more in-depth assessment.”
Dr Kelleher said hearing voices could be a “blip” on the radar that does not turn out to signify any underlying or undiagnosed problem.
“However, for the other children, these symptoms turned out to be a warning sign of serious underlying psychiatric illness, including clinical depression and behavioural disorders, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,” he added.
“Some older children with auditory hallucinations had two or more disorders.
“This finding is important because if a child reports auditory hallucinations it should prompt their treating doctor to consider that the child may have more than one diagnosis.
Water supply problems for thousands of households in Galway
Up to 4,000 households in Galway City and suburbs have little or no water supply due to a major burst water main off the Headford Road.
Those who do have water are asked to conserve use
Galway City Council is putting tankers in place this afternoon and hopes to have the problem resolved by tomorrow at the latest.
The areas affected include the Tuam Road, Monivea Road, Doughiska, Parkmore, Ballybrit, Ballybane, Briarhill, Renmore, Roscam and parts of the city centre.
A spokesperson for Galway City Council said the problem is due to an ageing network of old water pipes.
A 53cm water main off the Headford Road burst yesterday and the supply from the Ballybane reservoir has been interrupted since last night.
Water tankers will be in place from this afternoon on Ballybane Road near the church and on the Doughiska Road.
Water Service crews will continue to work on replacing the burst pipe to restore water supply to the affected areas.
Households that continue to have water supply are asked to conserve use.
The Irish Government unveils itsdigital strategy for 2012 to 2015
The new eGovernment strategy encourages greater sharing of data between Government departments.
The Government has unveiled its new digital strategy for delivering public services, proposing the use of social media and mobile services be considered to make public bodies more accessible, efficient and reduce costs.
The eGovernment strategy, which covers 2012 to 2015, also encourages greater sharing of data between Government public bodies, wider adoption of online payments and the use of smartphone optimsed sites and apps.
The move could lead to reduced fees for those applying online and help free up staff currently engaged in front-line work.
As part of the strategy, which was published by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, a number of services will be assessed by the end of next year to see if they are suitable for electronic delivery, including the renewal of adult passports, planning applications and objections, and welfare applications.
Also being considered is the roll-out of Fixyourstreet.ie, which allows citizens to report road and pathroblems, graffiti and illegal dumping directly to the council, across all local authorities.
“The Government recognises the need for public services to be delivered faster, better and more efficiently to citizens and businesses. Intelligent, targeted use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and eGovernment are key enablers for these improvements. The new strategy places citizens and businesses at the centre of eGovernment,” Mr Howlin said.
Data made available to the public will also be produced in a re-usable format, to encourage greater transparency.
The strategy also lays out a number of implementation and governance requirements that public bodies must stick to.
Mr Howlin said progress was already being made, with a public service chief information officer council already set up, with the aim of advancing ICT and eGovernment issues, and a data sharing clearing house that is designed to facilitate data sharing across the public service.
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