Madam, - I read with great interest the statement on post-natal depression by the Irish Association of Suicidology, in response to the latest of a number of family murder-suicides (The Irish Times, July 17).
The association mentioned that psychiatric services are, for many people, neither user-friendly nor readily accessible. Ireland urgently needs a fully funded national psychotherapy service which would be both an effective and cost-effective way to treat a wide range of current mental health problems.
In the meantime, the Irish Council for Psychotherapy maintains a register of more than 1,000 qualified highly trained psychotherapists, who are both accessible, "user-friendly", and skilled in dealing with the emotional disturbances so often tragically highlighted recently.
Unfortunately, owing to the lack of a public service, the majority are in private practice. - Yours, etc,
DERVAL RYAN,
Vice-Chair, Irish Council for
Psychotherapy,
Shankill, Co Dublin.