To examine the clinical and demographic profile of inpatient psychosis admissions in Ireland.

Anonymised data was extracted from the Health Research Board (HRB) National Psychiatric Inpatient Reporting System (NPIRS) from 2013–2022. The NPIRS database is maintained by the HRB and records all admissions to inpatient units and hospitals on the register of approved centres under the Mental Health Act 2001. Data was reviewed and analysed using SPSS V26.

There were 43,963 psychosis admissions over the 10-year period corresponding to 26% of all psychiatric admissions. Males accounted for 58% of psychosis admissions. The median age at first admission was 36 years of age for males and 42 years of age for females. Median length of stay in days was longer for psychosis admissions (median = 20 days IQR = 8–43) than for other mental health disorders (median = 13 days IQR = 4.0–33).

Understanding the clinical and demographic profile of psychosis related inpatient psychiatric admissions in Ireland provides insights that can inform effective service planning and care delivery. The findings of this study have particular relevance for the implementation and evolution of the Health Service Executive Early Intervention in Psychosis Clinical Programme.

The present paper provides an updated review of both the large number of new/novel/emerging psychoactive substances (NPS) and their associated psychopathological consequences. Focus was here given on identification of those NPS being commented in specialised online sources and the related short-/long-term psychopathological and medical ill-health effects.

NPS have been identified through an innovative crawling/navigating software, called the ‘NPS.Finder®’, created in order to facilitate the process of early recognition of NPS online. A range of information regarding NPS, including chemical and street names; chemical formula; three-dimensional image and anecdotally reported clinical/psychoactive effects, were here made available.

Using the ‘NPS.Finder®’ approach, a few thousand NPS were here preliminarily identified, a number which is about 4-fold higher than those figures suggested by European and international drug agencies. NPS most commonly associated with the onset of psychopathological consequences included here synthetic cannabinoids/cannabimimetics; new synthetic opioids; ketamine-like dissociatives; novel stimulants; novel psychedelics and several prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

The ever-increasing changes in terms of recreational psychotropics' availability represent a relatively new challenge for psychiatry, as the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of many NPS have not been thoroughly understood. Health/mental health professionals should be informed about the range of NPS; their intake modalities; their psychoactive sought-after effects; the idiosyncratic psychotropics' combinations and finally, their medical and psychopathological risks.