Madam, - Roisin Ingle misses the point in her response to the six psychiatrists who have written expressing their dismay at Tim O' Malley's comments on mental illness.
The over-reliance on medication is less the result of a rigid adherence to the medical model in the treatment of psychiatric illness than of the under-resourcing of the service by successive governments. A modern mental health service should be underpinned by properly resourced multi-disciplinary teams working from dedicated centres.
These teams, consisting at the very least of a psychiatrist, community mental health nurse, psychologist, social worker and occupational therapist, would facilitate holistic care and reduce the reliance on medication alone as treatment. Such a service is the norm in other first-world health services. Why not in ours?
Surely, as Minister with special responsibility for mental health, Mr O'Malley should bear some responsibility for the dearth of the most basic services in the mental health sector.
The aspirations in the document "A Vision for Change" are welcome. However, those of us who work in the area will continue to provide a fire brigade service until a real effort is made to resource services for the mentally ill.
Psycho-social interventions have a very important role to play in the treatment of mental illness,but in the current patchy, ill-planned and under-resourced system, the over-reliance on medication will continue in the absence of other alternatives. - Yours, etc,
MARY DINEEN, Community Mental Health Nurse, South Lee Mental Health Services, Cork.