"We have been through 30 years of hell here and perhaps there has been a resort to sedatives for survival," says Dr Alasdair McDonnell, an SDLP Assembly member and a family doctor with an inner-city practice on Belfast's Lower Ormeau Road.
"But the fact is that GPs are slaughtered workwise. Over the last five years, 50 to 60 per cent of time has gone on paperwork. So there is less and less time for talking as more and more bureaucracy is thrown at them."
He goes along with much of what Dr Kapur advocates. "I agree talking is often better than tablets, but sometimes there isn't the space to talk.
"Tablets can be as addictive as alcohol and cigarettes. And when patients get a tablet and get relief, they go back to them. They think that's the cure. So they cultivate the GP's sympathy and trust and they start putting on pressure for more tablets - they say they can't get a night's sleep, they can't face the next day and so on."
He said some resort to tears, threats or manipulation to get what drugs they feel they need.
"My contract states that I have to provide the patient with all immediate and necessary care, so I have to take the lead from the patient, the onus is on giving more medication."
The core problem was access to appropriate psychiatric care, said Dr McDonnell.