Psychosis treatment denied - report

PEOPLE WITH psychosis are being denied counselling and other talking therapies in the misguided view that it might worsen their condition, according to a new publication from Schizophrenia Ireland.

In Talking About Talking Therapies, launched yesterday, psychotherapist Dr Terry Lynch said the prevailing view was that psychosis was purely a medical issue.

"Service users and their carers often ask for counselling, frequently wanting to talk about their distress, their problems, their psychotic experiences," he wrote.

"They are often informed that counselling would not be good for them, indeed it would be likely to cause a deterioration in their condition." Promises would be made that therapy may be considered later "but in practice this rarely occurs. In my opinion, this is a misguided view, one which needs to be revisited."

Dr Lynch pointed to research which found that less than 10 per cent of people experienced a deterioration in their condition as a result of talk therapy and said the key priorities should be maximising the effectiveness of such therapy and minimising the risks.

In the publication, service user Brendan Kenny said he had attended psychiatrists for 12 years "and I talked less to them in all that time than I did to the Schizophrenia Ireland counsellor in the first couple of months". He began counselling after his drug dosage had been gradually reduced under medical supervision. The counselling became a "a lifeline" for him.

"Talk therapy does work and there's one thing all people with self-experience of mental health difficulties share and that is the willingness to change into better, healthier people given the tools, support and a little insight," he wrote.

"My personal theory, and this is probably totally unsubstantiated, is that some memories are too toxic to keep in your own head and your mind pushes them away into some other part of the body."

Schizophrenia Ireland launched the publication yesterday to mark Lucia Week, its annual awareness-raising event.

John Saunders, director of Schizophrenia Ireland, said the need for greater access to talk therapies had been clearly articulated by many groups for some time. Talking therapies should be a routine part of basic mental healthcare services, instead of being provided in an inconsistent way.

According to the Mental Health Commission's latest annual report, only two catchment areas - west Cork and south Co Dublin, had a full complement of staff on their multidisciplinary mental health teams as of December 31st last year.