Brendan D Kelly
Biographic Data
| ID | 200088 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brendan D Kelly |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brendan D |
| FAMILY NAME | Kelly |
| SIGNATURE | KELLY B D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Trinity College Dublin |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6113-1384 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 43 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 43 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Human in the loop
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into mental health care, legal decision-making, and forensic practice. Proponents argue that AI can augment professional judgment by improving prediction, efficiency, and consistency. Yet AI operates fundamentally differently from human reasoning: AI predicts, whereas clinicians and lawyers understand. Predictions alone cannot replace the human reasoning, contextualisation, and justification…
Updating Winterwerp with Rooman to add a requirement for ‘Real therapeutic measures’ to legal criteria for admission without consent in psychiatry
Admission without consent and treatment without consent are topics of prolonged discussion throughout the history of psychiatry. These practices raise significant issues pertaining to human rights to liberty, bodily integrity, and treatment. Balancing rights is always challenging, especially when people lack decision-making capacity owing to the impact of mental illness. In 1979, the European Court of Human Rights outlined criteria required to ju…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and academic publishing in psychiatry
The current and potential impact of various applications of artificial intelligence (AI) to the field of academic publishing in psychiatry is the subject of increasing attention. At present, AI algorithms assist in data analysis, allowing researchers to process large datasets quickly and uncover complex patterns that would be challenging to detect manually. In psychiatry, this capability can potentially help integrate data from genetics, neuroima…
Attitudes and knowledge relating to advance healthcare directives among medical and surgical inpatients and healthcare staff in Ireland
Background Advance healthcare directives (AHDs) are commonly discussed as a way to enhance patient autonomy but are rarely used, often owing to lack of awareness. This study aimed to assess knowledge of, and attitudes towards, AHDs in hospital inpatients and staff in Ireland one year after a new system of AHDs was introduced into law. Methodology We surveyed knowledge of and attitudes towards AHDs among 120 inpatients and 102 staff at a Dublin ho…
Artificial intelligence and mental capacity legislation
People with impaired decision-making capacity enjoy the same rights to access technology as people with full capacity. Our paper looks at realising this right in the specific contexts of artificial intelligence (AI) and mental capacity legislation. Ireland's Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act, 2015 commenced in April 2023 and refers to 'assistive technology' within its 'communication' criterion for capacity. We explore the potential benefits…
Advance healthcare directives and advance choice documents in psychiatry
New technology, psychiatry, and the law
Throughout human history, all new technology has been met with surprise, anxiety, panic, and - eventually - prudent adoption of certain aspects of specific technological advances. This pattern is evident in the histories of most technologies, ranging from steam power in the nineteenth century, to television in the twentieth century, and - now - 'artificial intelligence' (AI) in the twenty-first century. Each generation believes that the technolog…
Comparing mental health and mental capacity law data across borders
The island of Ireland is partitioned into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In both jurisdictions, there have been important developments in mental health and mental capacity law, and associated policies and services. This includes an emphasis on developing more comprehensive approaches to collecting data on outcomes and so there is an opportunity to align these processes to enable comparison and shared learning across the border. Thi…
Should Dignity Preservation Be a Precondition for Safety and a Design Priority for Healing in Inpatient Psychiatry Spaces
Therapeutic security in inpatient psychiatric settings requires careful planning and implementation if it is to support patients' safety and dignity. This commentary on a case considers patients' dignity experiences when restrictions on their freedom are used to keep them safe
Multi-level protection of rights
Mental health law is a feature of mental health systems around the world, so legislative reform is an important way to advance compliance with the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This paper provides an overview of India's Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 in the context of Articles 12 ('Equal recognition before the law') and 14 ('Liberty and security of person'). Notwithstanding the potential of law to prod…
Beyond mindfulness
Buddhist psychology increasingly informs mental healthcare through therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), as well as explicitly Buddhist therapies. The central tenets of Buddhist psychology are explored in the Abhidharma, a collection of psychological works from the traditional canon. The Abhidharma includes detailed expositions of the structure of consciousness; the natures of active cognitiv…
Routledge Handbook of Mental Health Law
Competence or mental capacity refers to the ability to make responsible and balanced decisions. It is linked to the ethical principle of autonomy and to a collaborative and supporting doctor-patient relationship, far from the ancient paternalistic model. Mental capacity can be evaluated in clinical settings (decision making to consent to treatment or research), for the autonomy in daily life activities (financial matters, contracts), and in crimi…
The right to freedom of thought
In 2021, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief presented his ‘Report on Freedom of Thought’ to the United Nations General Assembly. This was the first substantive consideration of the right to freedom of thought at the United Nations level since the right was recognised in 1948. This paper provides interdisciplinary reflections on this report to support ongoing discussions on the appropriate content and scope of t…
The collaborative development through multidisciplinary and advocate consensus of an accessible notice of rights for people with intellectual disabilities in police custody
Background People with intellectual disabilities are over-represented in the criminal justice system. The United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) enshrines a right to equal access to justice for persons with disabilities (Article 13, UNCRPD). Accessible information is a key aspect of exercising this right. Yet, many jurisdictions, including Ireland, are yet to develop accessible information for disabled peop…
The association between objective necessity for involuntary treatment as measured during admission, legal admission status and clinical factors in an inpatient psychiatry setting
Involuntary psychiatric admission is a common feature of mental health services around the world, but there is limited research about tools to support clinical assessment of objective necessity for compulsory care. Our study aimed to determine the relationships between objective necessity for involuntary treatment as measured by the Compulsory Treatment Checklist (CTC), legal admission status (voluntary or involuntary) and various clinical parame…
Authorship in the Medical Humanities
Challenges for people with intellectual disabilities in law enforcement interactions in Ireland; thematic analysis informed by 1537 person-years' experience
BACKGROUND: People with intellectual disabilities (PWID) are over-represented in criminal justice systems globally. This over-representation reveals itself at once in the demographic make-up of prison populations, as well as those detained in police settings as suspects of crime. While it is well-established in international literature that individuals who find themselves in the latter scenario face particular challenges in negotiating the forens…
The association between perceived coercion on admission and formal coercive practices in an inpatient psychiatric setting
Involuntary care is a feature of mental health services around the world. In addition to involuntary admission and treatment, specific coercive practices include seclusion and physical restraint. Our study aimed to determine the relationships, if any, between these practices and perceived coercion on admission among psychiatry inpatients in Ireland, as well as any relationships between perceived coercion on admission and variables such as age, ge…
Dignity
Mental health in the Covid-19 pandemic
During any outbreak of an infectious disease, the population’s psychological reactions play a critical role in shaping both spread of the disease and the occurrence of emotional distress and social disorder during and after the outbreak. Despite this fact, sufficient resources are typically not provided to manage or attenuate pandemics’ effects on mental health and wellbeing.1 While this might be understandable in the acute phase of an outbreak, …
Is There a Human Legal Right to Mental Health
While recent decades have seen an increased focus on the idea of rights to health and health care, these ideas were particularly advanced by the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 and the importance that the World Health Organization attached to the essential role of law in advancing the right to health in 2017. The UN made explicit the rights of persons with mental illness in 1991 with its Principle…
Domestic violence against women and the Covid-19 pandemic
A heightened risk of domestic violence has been associated with infection-reducing measures undertaken by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatric services can play a key role in addressing this issue by (a) addressing certain risk factors for perpetration of domestic violence through, for example, assertive identification and management of substance misuse; (b) providing support, advocacy and treatment services for victims of domest…
The inherent jurisdiction of the Irish High Court
The term "inherent jurisdiction" refers to a set of default powers, usually not set out in statute, which enables a court to fulfil its roles. We discuss recently reported cases where such power has been exercised by the Irish High Court and what this means for psychiatrists in practice. These cases demonstrate that (a) the Irish High Court can be involved in decision-making where there is a lacuna in mental health legislation and a lack of menta…
Emergency mental health legislation in response to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic in Ireland
Many countries have enacted, or are in the process of enacting, emergency mental health legislation in response to the global pandemic of Covid-19 (coronavirus). In Ireland, the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act, 2020 amends the Mental Health Act 2001 to permit the Mental Health Commission to request an independent psychiatric report about an involuntary patient from any consultant psychiatrist who is not treating the patie…
Mental health, mental capacity, ethics, and the law in the context of Covid-19 (coronavirus)
Structural violence and schizophrenia
The power gap
Buddhist Psychology, Psychotherapy and the Brain
Buddhist psychology is increasingly informing psychotherapeutic practice in the western world. This article: (a) provides a general background to Buddhist tradition; (b) outlines the central tenets of Buddhist psychology, with particular emphasis on the practice of meditation; (c) provides an overview of research into the effects of Buddhist practice on the brain; (d) outlines the relationships between Buddhist psychology and existing forms of ps…
A fuller picture
Art therapy has a long history in mental healthcare, but requires an enhanced evidence base in order to better identify its precise role in contemporary services. This paper describes an evaluation of an art therapy programme in an acute adult psychiatry admission unit in Ireland. A mixed method research design was used. Quantitative data were collected through a survey of 35 staff members and 11 service users. Qualitative data included free text…
Self-immolation, suicide and self-harm in Buddhist and Western traditions
There are significant points of similarity between considerations of self-harm and suicide in Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions, including qualified acceptance of certain forms of self-harm, altruism as a motivation for suicide, and self-immolation as a form of political protest. Differences include specific contexts in which certain forms of self-harm are accepted and the predominant frameworks used to interpret such acts. The integration of …
Poverty, Crime and Mental Illness
Journal Article Poverty, Crime and Mental Illness: Female Forensic Psychiatric Committal in Ireland, 1910–1948 Get access Brendan D. Kelly Brendan D. Kelly * *Department of Adult Psychiatry, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, 62/63 Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social History of Medicine, Volume 21,…
Large-scale energy projects in New Zealand
Large-scale energy projects in New Zealand
Structural violence and schizophrenia
The power gap
The Mental Treatment Act 1945 in Ireland
The Mental Treatment Act 1945 had a decisive influence on the provision and development of psychiatric services in Ireland. This paper examines: (a) the historical and psychiatric backgrounds to the introduction of the Mental Treatment Act 1945; (b) the main provisions of the Act; and (c) the international context of the Act, especially in relation to institutional and legislative trends in other jurisdictions
Poverty, Crime and Mental Illness
Journal Article Poverty, Crime and Mental Illness: Female Forensic Psychiatric Committal in Ireland, 1910–1948 Get access Brendan D. Kelly Brendan D. Kelly * *Department of Adult Psychiatry, University College Dublin, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, 62/63 Eccles Street, Dublin 7, Ireland. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social History of Medicine, Volume 21,…
Buddhist Psychology, Psychotherapy and the Brain
Buddhist psychology is increasingly informing psychotherapeutic practice in the western world. This article: (a) provides a general background to Buddhist tradition; (b) outlines the central tenets of Buddhist psychology, with particular emphasis on the practice of meditation; (c) provides an overview of research into the effects of Buddhist practice on the brain; (d) outlines the relationships between Buddhist psychology and existing forms of ps…
Folie à plusieurs
Folie à plusieurs is a syndrome in which two or more individuals share symptoms (e.g., delusions). This paper uses archival material to present and discuss forensic psychiatric cases of folie à plusieurs from nineteenth-century Ireland. The cases of three brothers who all `became insane at the same time' and killed another brother illustrate: the role of organic factors in folie à plusieurs; the use of `moral management' strategies; and the probl…
Vampirism as Mental Illness
Journal Article Vampirism as Mental Illness: Myth, Madness and the Loss of Meaning in Psychiatry Get access Seamus Mac Suibhne, Seamus Mac Suibhne * *Special Lecturer and Senior Registrar in Psychiatry, St Vincent's University Hospital/University College Dublin, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland. Email: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Brendan D. Kelly Brendan D. Kelly Search for o…
Self-immolation, suicide and self-harm in Buddhist and Western traditions
There are significant points of similarity between considerations of self-harm and suicide in Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions, including qualified acceptance of certain forms of self-harm, altruism as a motivation for suicide, and self-immolation as a form of political protest. Differences include specific contexts in which certain forms of self-harm are accepted and the predominant frameworks used to interpret such acts. The integration of …
Shell shock in Ireland
The history of mental disorders occasioned by World War I is a complex and important history, indelibly linked with social, political and cultural circumstances, and the history of the war itself. The Richmond War Hospital was a 32-bed establishment on the grounds of the large Richmond District Asylum in Dublin which, from 16 June 1916 until 23 December 1919, treated 362 soldiers with shell shock and other mental disorders, of whom more than half…
Perspectives on patienthood, practitioners and pedagogy
This issue brings together scholars of philosophy, medicine, history, art history and psychiatry to consider the theme of ‘patienthood’, to ponder what being a patient means in historic and modern terms, to discuss the practitioner/patient relationship, to contribute to pedagogy and ongoing debates in the medical humanities.i By focusing on two main themes, narratives and pedagogy, this issue builds on the advances and responds to the ‘clarion ca…
Searching for the patient's voice in the Irish asylums
The history of mental healthcare in Ireland ends to focus on the histories of institutions and development of mental health legislation. Attention has also been devoted to clinical records, with all of their interpretative and narrative complexities. In both the historiography and archives, however, patients themselves remain remarkably elusive, their voices astonishingly distant. In countries other than Ireland, there have been more extensive an…
A fuller picture
Art therapy has a long history in mental healthcare, but requires an enhanced evidence base in order to better identify its precise role in contemporary services. This paper describes an evaluation of an art therapy programme in an acute adult psychiatry admission unit in Ireland. A mixed method research design was used. Quantitative data were collected through a survey of 35 staff members and 11 service users. Qualitative data included free text…
Confidentiality and privacy in the setting of involuntary mental health care
Restriction of liberty for the purpose of psychiatric treatment raises practical, ethical and philosophical issues relating to privacy and confidentiality. As a result, the issue of confidentiality in mental health care is a subject of long-standing interest. The challenges are at once medical, legal, ethical and philosophical. In 1991, the United Nations’ (UN) placed strong emphasis on confidentiality and privacy, an emphasis that was re-iterate…
Privacy, confidentiality and carers
Love as delusion, delusions of love
Erotomania has a long, colourful history in psychiatry. It is a rare condition in which the patient ('subject') develops the belief that he or she is loved from afar by another person ('object'). The subject is generally female, though men predominate in forensic samples. The object is generally perceived to belong to a higher social class, reflecting a sociopolitical element in the construction of love. Erotomania requires active treatment and r…
Mental health in the Covid-19 pandemic
During any outbreak of an infectious disease, the population’s psychological reactions play a critical role in shaping both spread of the disease and the occurrence of emotional distress and social disorder during and after the outbreak. Despite this fact, sufficient resources are typically not provided to manage or attenuate pandemics’ effects on mental health and wellbeing.1 While this might be understandable in the acute phase of an outbreak, …
Is There a Human Legal Right to Mental Health
While recent decades have seen an increased focus on the idea of rights to health and health care, these ideas were particularly advanced by the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006 and the importance that the World Health Organization attached to the essential role of law in advancing the right to health in 2017. The UN made explicit the rights of persons with mental illness in 1991 with its Principle…
Domestic violence against women and the Covid-19 pandemic
A heightened risk of domestic violence has been associated with infection-reducing measures undertaken by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychiatric services can play a key role in addressing this issue by (a) addressing certain risk factors for perpetration of domestic violence through, for example, assertive identification and management of substance misuse; (b) providing support, advocacy and treatment services for victims of domest…
The inherent jurisdiction of the Irish High Court
The term "inherent jurisdiction" refers to a set of default powers, usually not set out in statute, which enables a court to fulfil its roles. We discuss recently reported cases where such power has been exercised by the Irish High Court and what this means for psychiatrists in practice. These cases demonstrate that (a) the Irish High Court can be involved in decision-making where there is a lacuna in mental health legislation and a lack of menta…
Emergency mental health legislation in response to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic in Ireland
Many countries have enacted, or are in the process of enacting, emergency mental health legislation in response to the global pandemic of Covid-19 (coronavirus). In Ireland, the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act, 2020 amends the Mental Health Act 2001 to permit the Mental Health Commission to request an independent psychiatric report about an involuntary patient from any consultant psychiatrist who is not treating the patie…
Mental health, mental capacity, ethics, and the law in the context of Covid-19 (coronavirus)
The experience of law enforcement officers interfacing with suspects who have an intellectual disability – A systematic review
Experiences of people with intellectual disabilities encountering law enforcement officials as the suspects of crime – A narrative systematic review
It is well established internationally that there is a high prevalence of intellectual disability (ID) among people in police custody. Some people with ID may face particular challenges in negotiating the forensic formalities adopted by police at the pre-trial stage of the criminal process. These challenges need to be acknowledged and mitigated through appropriate procedural safeguards in order to, at once, preserve the fact-finding accuracy of c…
Challenges for people with intellectual disabilities in law enforcement interactions in Ireland; thematic analysis informed by 1537 person-years' experience
BACKGROUND: People with intellectual disabilities (PWID) are over-represented in criminal justice systems globally. This over-representation reveals itself at once in the demographic make-up of prison populations, as well as those detained in police settings as suspects of crime. While it is well-established in international literature that individuals who find themselves in the latter scenario face particular challenges in negotiating the forens…
Psychology (31 works) · Psychiatry (28 works) · Political science (27 works) · Medicine (23 works) · Law (22 works) · Mental health (21 works) · Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints (15 works) · Health care (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works)