Treat the cause

Thursday, July 22, 2010

I AM delighted that at last one of the many problems we face is highlighted in your report headlined "Experts slam use of drugs to ‘contain’ mentally ill" (July 19).

Many people who are unfortunate to find themselves ‘diagnosed’ with a so-called mental illness often have psycho/social problems.

They can be given a real mental illness by the ‘treatment’ in the form of a chemical lobotomy.

Others like myself, who never had a serious psycho/social problem to begin with, can be kept in a chemical straitjacket, completely out of touch with themselves and the world as a ‘treatment’ for a lifetime.

Let us find the root cause of problems. Let us at least stop the sham of treating symptoms as if they were the cause.

Mary Maddock
Manor Close
Thornbury Heights
Rochestown
Cork

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, July 22, 2010