THE "CLOSE TO HOME" column by Marcy Porter in the March-April issue struck a chord in my heart and memory. The writer told of her unstable emotions and the ups and downs of medicines, particularly of Prozac and its mostly unsavory reputation.
When I had my bouts with depression and psychosis more than 40 years ago, there were no medicines. I was given shock treatments, which did nothing for me, although they have been helpful to many others.
I felt I was extremely fortunate when, after moving to Louisville, I became familiar with a program of self-help through group therapy, called Recovery, Inc., which originated in Chicago following guidelines in the book Mental Health Through Will Training, by Dr. Abraham Low, a psychiatrist from the Illinois Institute of Psychiatry.
The medicines today are wonderful, but I do not believe they are enough. The person needs to know how to handle the extraordinary ups and downs of his or her emotions and the accompanying "weird" and varied symptoms. And to learn to deal with the discouragement and low feeling that accompany this state of mind. I have seen so many people get well (I am 77 years old); it has changed my life.
Norma M. Reinert
Louisville, Kentucky
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