Mental Health Ireland (MHI), Ireland’s largest national mental health charity, has released their annual national mental health survey this October as part of Mental Health Month. The Mental Health Census interviewed 1,000 adult participants in Ireland to identify the nation’s most pressing mental wellbeing concerns.
According to Dr. Lisa Cuthbert, CEO of MHI, “1 in 5 of us aren’t sure how to improve our mental health”. The overall trend witnessed by researchers was of growing disengagement in intentional activities for the betterment of one’s mental health. The survey also indicated that the number of people who do nothing to support their mental health doubled from 10.7% to 19%. This pattern is consistent across demographic groups.
In addition, researchers concluded that the barriers to mental health support for people have increased. In comparison to 2024, less participants reported having “no barriers” to support their mental health, from 38% to 20.8% in 2025. The majority of responses indicated “time pressures”, 36.1%, and “screen use”, 35.4%, as the greatest obstacles to their mental health support. This comes as no surprise, with countries worldwide reconsidering relationships with their screens, notably Australia who will enforce a social media ban for all children under 16 years old by this December.
Furthermore, the census revealed that lower income adults are 53% more likely to report not doing any intentional activity for their mental health than adults with a higher income.
But what kinds of mental health activities are there for people to improve their wellbeing? The census identified three main activities that Irish people do to take care of their mental health. Exercise, the most common, actually underwent a decrease in men and women by 10.7% and 23.3% respectively. Social connections, spending time with family and friends, was also affected negatively, particularly in men who reported a 22.2% relative drop in socialising since last year. Finally, therapy, which was only a part of 11.6% of participants’ routine, bore a 27.5% decrease due to accessibility issues. In sum, the study concluded that every mental health activity had declined in frequency since last year..
All in all, the MHI census showcases worrying patterns that could indicate larger problems of public mental health access and engagement across Ireland. The full breakdown of the Census is available at the charity’s website.
