Psychiatrists need to listen to their critics
Had Dr Campbell attended the recent Cork Advocacy Network (CAN) conference she would have heard the sentiments I expressed echoed by dozens of other users of the mental health services.
She expressed a need to protect those patients who function well on medication. Well done. We, on the other hand, have a duty to speak out on behalf of those who have had their voices stolen by medication, as mine was, and do not function well on it.
Dr Campbell states that a combination of therapies is preferred. We all agree. But the alternatives to medication are not available in any meaningful way.
She proposed discussions to avoid black-and-white thinking. We would love to meet with the consultant psychiatrists at any time.
We want to talk to them so that we can learn from each other. We are not anti-psychiatry; we are simply asking them to open their minds to the fact that their methodology might be wrong?
Dr Campbell’s concluding remarks were sad. She suggested that we who live with the reality of the indifference of treatment are now delusional and imagining it all.
Not only that, but we are “projecting” our reality onto the poor, long suffering, “movie- stigmatised” psychiatrists. Another perfect example of how condescending her profession can be.
Finally, if psychiatrists speak to their patients in the language used in Dr Campbell’s letter, it is little wonder people have trouble interacting with them. I had to have frequent recourse to the dictionary. Nonetheless I look forward to meeting them so that, as she says, we can have a “mature discussion” that is mutually beneficial.
John McCarthy
Pro Can
Springfort House
Springfort
Montenotte
Cork
