Yes, there has been a shocking lack of progress in developing transformative psychiatric medicine (We need new drugs for mental ill-health, 5 February), but this may be because in mental health, drugs are not always the answer (see, for example, Richard P Bentall’s Doctoring the Mind).
Huge progress has been made in the effectiveness of talking therapies – for example, free effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is available to all UK army veterans through the charity PTSD Resolution.
What is lacking is rollout of the effective methods that now exist. This is an area where the UK is genuinely world leading. The Human Givens Institute is at the forefront of the development of effective, solution-focused, science-based therapies. This is where funding for further research and rollout of these methods could really make a difference.
Ann Marie Taylor
Human Givens therapist, Helsingborg, Sweden
