Dr. Corry leaves a long medical legacy behind
The late Dr. Michael Corry.
Wednesday March 03 2010
THE DEATH has taken place of the renowned psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Dr. Michael Corry, who campaigned against the overreliance of medicine in treating patients.
Dr. Corry was aged 60 when he passed away in his home at Clara Vale following a short illness.
Throughout his career Dr. Corry campaigned hard against the over-reliance of medicine in the treatment of psychiatric patients and for the abolishment of Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
In 2008 he was the leader of a campaign to introduce a private members bill in the Seanad to prohibit the involuntary administration of ECT to patients without their consent.
Last year he was in the news after an appearance on The Late Late Show when he said side-effects from antidepressants could tip someone into suicidal and homicidal behaviour. His comments followed on from the fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Sebastian Creane by Shane Clancy in Bray. On the show Clancy's parents alleged that antidepressants had pushed him over the edge.
Dr. Corry qualified from UCD in 1973 and worked as a volunteer doctor in Africa before he started psychiatric studies in 1978 and trained as a constructivist psychotherapist.
During his time working in St. Brendan's Psychiatric Hospital in Dublin he developed a groundbreaking socialisation pilot project which focused on the rehabilitation of long-stay institutionalised patients. It's also here that his interest in psychosis and altered states of consciousness developed.
He was co-founder of the Institute of Psychosocial Medicine in Dun Laoghaire and the privately funded Clane Hospital in County Kildare. He also established the Wellbeing Foundation which campaigned for psychiatric patients' rights.
His funeral service took place on Thursday in the Victorian Chapel at Mount Jerome Crematorium in Harold's Cross. He is survived by his partner Áine, his children Louise, Amelia and Julian, their mother Anne, his brothers Martin and John, sisters Anne and Sr. Premula, extended family, friends, colleagues and patients.
