SEÁN MALONE: Prof Seán Malone, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at University College Dublin and consultant psychiatrist to the Mater and St Vincent's psychiatric hospitals, was one of the pioneers of biological psychiatry in the Republic.
His neurological approach to psychiatric illness may have been at variance with the vogue for social psychiatry, but he was firm in his view of psychiatric illness. "You cannot leave the brain out of this" was his response to those who rushed headlong to embrace the prevailing Malone was born in Dublin and educated at St Vincent's College, Glasnevin. He entered the medical school at UCD in 1937. A prize-winning student, he combined clinical diligence with footballing excellence.
After graduation, he decided to pursue a career in neurology. He undertook postgraduate training at the National Hospital for Neurological Diseases at Queen's Square, London. He returned home in 1948 to an appointment as consultant neurologist to the Mater Hospital. Malone also attended patients at the National Maternity Hospital, the Coombe, St Luke's and Cherry Orchard Hospitals. He moved to include psychiatry in his clinical responsibilities; to him psychiatry and neurology were complementary components of the art and science of clinical medicine.
Although he had no great interest in medical politics, he was a good listener and valued adviser to many Mater doctors. His institutional loyalty was to the hospital, and his commitment was to the patients and students.
He treated all his patients the same. Malone favoured the underdog, especially north-side Dubliners, whom he referred to as "NSDs". He was known to give outpatients their busfare home. In his private practice, he refused on principle to increase his private consultation fee; he billed in guineas until 15 years after decimalisation.
He was appointed professor of psychiatry at University College Dublin in 1976. He loved teaching students and was famous for his annual end-of-term lecture at Earlsfort Terrace. He gave a succinct 20-minute lecture on "what never ever to forget about major depression", or some other key topic. Students were forbidden to take notes - but a solid tip for the forthcoming finals had been imparted.
At postgraduate level, there is a cohort of psychiatrists throughout the island who worked and learned under his tutelage. A regular attender at Royal College of Psychiatrists meetings in Britain, he was also an active member of the British Association of Psychopharmacology and hosted one of its annual meetings at St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, shortly before he retired.
Malone's model of clinical care was a unique mixture of empathy, sympathy, modesty, clinical knowledge and copious quantities of common sense. His clinical methods were ahead of their time. A long-time advocate of maintenance antidepressant therapy in order to prevent relapse in patients with severe recurrent depression, his approach was vindicated by landmark research published in 1996.
Apart from his family, Malone's other great interests were reading and music.
Well-respected in legal circles for his lucid explanations, he enjoyed medico-legal work. One High Court judge routinely stopped proceedings whenever Malone arrived and would ask him to step forward to explain the finer points of psychological illness.
He is survived by his wife Bríd, his daughters Marian, Geraldine, Roisín and Niamh, his sons Seán, Kevin and Niall, and by his many grandchildren.
J.P. (Seán) Malone: born February 15th, 1919; died January 14th, 2003