26 June 2000
Dear Letters Editor
Re: It's Good to Talk (Guardian Society 28 June 2000)
At last! An acknowledgement that for many people "drugs don't work on their own", even in cases of severe mental illness.
The Mental Health Foundation's Strategies for Living programme has worked for three years on discovering just what does really work for those experiencing mental health problems. While pharmacological approaches are important, our research reported that a range of other strategies - talking to people, accepting relationships, support groups, alternative therapies, economic independence - were highly significant in people's self-management.
Unfortunately, funding dictates that at present the weight of evidence is on the side of the pharmaceutical companies. Only a fraction of these total resources have been available to evaluate alternative non-drug-based therapies.
Getting this full range of research funded should be a priority for Government in order to ensure that people with mental health problems, and their psychiatrists, are better informed in order to make appropriate decisions. Only then will we see the development of a securely-funded and consistent range of services and support within which people with mental health problems can find the approach that truly works for them.
Yours sincerely
Ruth Lesirge
Director, Mental Health Foundation
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