I broadly agree with sneekeepete and plantagenet.

Deane is a barrister, not a psychiatrist. He is quite clearly not qualified to comment on whether any diagnosis of mental illness is correct.

It is nonsense to suggest that "things have gone too far" just because mental illnesses are generally more readily recognised than was the case 50 or 100 years ago. Mental illness was poorly understood at those times in comparison to other fields of medical science, and it is still poorly understood in relative terms today.

Mental illness is so often the wholly subjective experience of the sufferer. Yes, physical pain is also subjective to some degree - two people may experience different levels of pain after suffering the same physical injury. But at least when your leg is broken or your skin slashed, there is visible evidence of this to satisfy the observer that your injury is "genuine".

Therein lies the great problem that sufferers of mental illness face - they don't have a physical injury which can be used as evidence to satisfy the ignorant, unimaginative or uncompassionate.

I'm not suggesting that all diagnoses are accurate, or that there is equal merit in every new field of pharmacological research. But it is particularly ignorant and distasteful for Deane to suggest that depression is a "myth". He has obviously never suffered from it himself, or been close to anyone who has. Or perhaps, as someone not remotely qualified to comment on the subject, he is operating under the mistaken belief that depression just involves "feeling a bit down" or "having a bad day". I can assure him that it is much, much more than this. His comment make about as much sense as suggesting that someone with a heart condition should just "snap out of it and do some exercise".

World history is littered with examples of high-achieving, successful and wealthy sufferers of depression across a range of human endeavours. It is arrant nonsense (via a logical extension of Deane's arguments) to suggest that the symptoms from which all of these people suffered were nothing more than a "myth".

BC2 ,it is not all nonsense.A school wanted to put a boy on Ritilan because of his behaviour problems.Now I've known this boy for 11yrs.He might have a few learning problems but always polite,civil and social.

Now I went to this same school back in 1970.If we misbehaved we were canned.Drugs are now being used to avoid confrontation and the need to discipline.To ask Psychologists to be honest about their inherent bias is like asking lawyers or barristers if there is too much litigation.

Don't you think we need some independant assessment?

Alexander

Thank your for your article.

BC - as a psychiatric/mental health nurse since 1978 - I generally agree with your sentiments. Clearly you have some understanding of mental illness. I guess the problem is that people like Alexander loosely use terms such as "mental health problems" and "mental health issues" to cover a gamit of social problems.

Alexander points out the problem of medicalising and over diagnosis. I agree with that. Children are far too frequently diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. I have nursed kids and conducted family therapy in this regard. My experience has been that much of the stuff has been to do with dysfunctional families and dysfunctional parents. Egocentric people who want a quick fix for their social problems.

I have never nursed a child who has had any demonstable gains from Ritalin.

But I have to disagree with Alexander's assertion that depression is a myth. From my experience, depression is the common cold of mental illness (Hase & Douglas, 1986). Clinical depression is a crippling, diagnosable, and treatable mental illness. It is not analogous with "the everyday blues" - which most of us get at one time or another.

Cheers
Kay

Arjay, was it a school of salmon or tuna perchance? Otherwise, "canning" would seem a little excessive for misbehaviour :)

More seriously, what is it about so many lawyers that they feel the need to pontificate in areas that are so patently beyond their expertise? A world champion debater he may be, but Deane needs to brush up on his psychiatry if he wants to take on people with mental illnesses like clinical depression and ADD/ADHD in such a dismissive way.

Any cursory reading of the mountains of literature about depression, for example, would inform him that the "pull yourself together" approach is the very last thing that a person suffering that insidious disease needs. ADD/ADHD is a bit more controversial - but again there is a wide literature that suggests that its increasing incidence is due to more than simply the 'medicalisation' of a behavioural problem.

Having worked in this area myself, I think that the etiologies of these mental illnesses are complex and involve both sociocultural and biological factors. To some extent, I think they are generated by contemporary lifestyles and rapid sociocultural change. Increasing diagnosis of these conditions is consistent with such a hypothesis.

Although it is wise to treat pharmacological 'silver bullets' with some caution, appropriate medication should not be rejected out of hand by those who do not have expertise in these areas.

mmm...?Is conservative, sqaure jawed stiff upper lip bavado rugged individualism a mental illness?

Alexander Deane is a Barrister and he read English Literature at Trinity College. Perhaps he should have read a few Phantom comics while he was at it?

He's much too young to be sounding like an old goat from the British aristooooocracy

"He jests at scars, that never felt a wound."

When Alex grows up he may acquire a bit of compassion for people in need of medical intervention for their mental illness.

Meanwhile, attitudes like his compound the problems of patients and their families, and provide governments with a rationale for cutting mental health services.