We need to break down the prejudice and ensure proper funding...

11:30am Thursday 6th March 2008

It seems that the Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Unit are suggesting from tests they've conducted that prescribed antidepressants are a waste of time. How convenient, considering the severe financial mess that the NHS is in!

May I share with you my own experience of depression. I have suffered on and off for the last 13 years - if not longer. Some times I can be brimming with confidence, other times just being around people makes me physically shake and brings on a panic attack where I can't breathe. I can't sleep, I've gone from severe weight loss to weight gain; I can't watch or read anything without knowing that it's got a pleasant ending and I can just burst into uncontrollable sobbing that can take me hours to recover from. Some days, it's all I can do to get out of bed! Add to this the fact that I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and have to constantly have things clean and symmetrical and my life is just one big bundle of laughs!

Back in 2003, I publicly appealed to the Primary Care Trust not to cut the counselling services in Wychavon. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears! Despite the excellent support from my GP, it took 18 months for me to get counselling because the waiting lists are that long. So many people are in desperate need of mental health support yet it seems that it's one of the first dispensable services when it comes to budget cuts.

I am on a high dosage of antidepressants now and I can assure you that I couldn't get through the day without them, despite the prejudice that many people have. Just because you can't see my illness doesn't make it any less severe.

I know everybody is different but we need to break down this barrier of prejudice against depression and treat it properly by ensuring that mental health services are sufficiently funded to provide the necessary support.

Mrs Trudy Burge, Church Street, Pershore.

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