Letter: Concern over Care in the Community

Sir: There have been a number of reports in your paper recently about schizophrenics who become a danger to the public and are violent because they refuse to continue taking the prescribed drugs.

I would like to point out that the majority of schizophrenics, though paranoid while in the turmoil of a breakdown, are not violent.

I was diagnosed schizophrenic. My breakdown occurred after a life time of stress and traumas brought on by this cruel world of supposedly sane people. I found that drugs did not reduce my fear but reduced my anger and ability to assert myself. On them I lacked emotional feeling and found no pleasure in living. Against my doctor's advice I have stopped taking the treatment and life is again pleasurable.

Those who suffer from schizophrenic conditions are on the whole creative and sensitive people and they should not be made to stay on drugs permanently because of public ignorance about this condition.

I, for one, need my anger, for it allows me to speak out against injustices such as this.

Sincerely,

CHRISTINE SHEEHAN

Lancing, West Sussex