Sir, – Well done to Carl O’Brien and The Irish Times for the articles “Bitter pills to swallow” and “When conflicts of interest arise in medicine” (Weekend Review April 14th and Home News, April 16th).
In my opinion the majority, if not all, psychiatric illnesses have their roots in emotional problems. In my own case I was diagnosed as suffering from manic depression after two spells in psychiatric hospital at the age of 20. No effort was made to look at any other difficulties I was experiencing at the time – and there were many.
In the psychiatrist’s viewpoint, I suffered from depression, there was a chemical imbalance in my mind and I needed medication to correct this chemical imbalance. In my late 20s, after moving to a new area of the country when my depression got out of control and the medication wasn’t helping, I made contact with a psychiatrist who felt, as I did, that there was a reason for my depression; and I commenced psychotherapy.
It’s nearly 19 years since I came off the lithium which I was told at the age of 20 I would be on for the rest of my life. In my view the medical model of treating mental illnesses is a fallacy. It may alleviate some of the symptoms. In some people like me it doesn’t and can even make certain conditions worse. It deadens the person and numbs their feelings. It’s only in the process of psychotherapy I regained a sense of myself and was able to deal with the issues that were behind my depression. Thank you again for printing these articles. – Yours, etc,