Making The Walls Porous; A Narrative History of Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in 20th Century Ireland by Dr Eithne Cusack

Delve into the compelling history of psychiatric/mental health nursing in 20th century Ireland with this groundbreaking book. This book is informed by a research doctorate degree and uncovers the untold stories of nurses who worked in Irish psychiatric institutions from the 1940s to the end of the 20th Century.

Through firsthand narratives, the book provides unprecedented insights into the conditions, treatments, and daily life within these facilities for both patients and nurses, at a time when Ireland had the world’s highest rate of psychiatric hospitalization. The author expertly weaves together personal accounts that illuminate the complex relationships between nurses, patients, and the institutional system. It tells us about our past, it is shaped by evidence, interpretation and perspective in an effort to make sense of what has come before. It provides primary evidence on the conditions that existed within these institutions, how nurses worked, what they believed and what they witnessed. The work captures their struggles and challenges, and how their decisions and experiences have led us to where we are today both as a profession and a nursing service in the Irish healthcare system. provides

This historical account serves as both a vital documentation of the past and a mirror to contemporary mental health care practices. It offers valuable lessons while challenging long-held myths about psychiatric care and nursing practices. It also honors the often-overlooked contributions of nurses, articulating nursing behaviors, interactions, techniques and the skills used in the craft of their nursing, many deemed fundamental practices necessary in contemporary mental health care, to enable and achieve improved outcomes for patients.

This book is important because history teaches us lessons, this history is not just an examination of our past it is also an explanation of our present. It’s not just a history of a division of the profession of nursing in Ireland, it is a social history, it is a mirror reflecting a time when our understanding of mental illness and mental health was different, and how psychiatric /mental health nursing practice and care evolved within that context.

So, whether you are a trainee mental health nurse, a health professional, a sociologist, a psychologist, a historian, a policy maker or just someone interested in understanding mental illness and the impact of trauma and neglect on lives  or just  curious about how we, as a society, have treated, regarded or valued our most vulnerable members and what it reveals about our collective values – this book is essential reading for you!