Sir, - One can only hope that the Eastern Health Board will pay close attention to Patricia McCarthy's article "Psychoanalysis: hope for troubled youth" (Opinion, February 27th).
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the health boards' reliance on traditional psychiatry and medication is no longer an adequate response for some of the most seriously troubled youth committed to their care. Equally, a similar reliance by the Department of Justice on traditional psychiatry for mentally ill prisoners is no longer good enough.
A service such as that proposed by Patricia McCarthy would undoubtedly complement the present psychiatric input to our prisons. - Yours, etc,
Garrett Sheehan, Francis Street, Dublin 8.