DURING an average day in my psychiatry clinic at The Maudsley Hospital in
London, patients bombard me with questions such as: “What exactly is in these
tablets you want me to take, doctor?” and: “Precisely how is this medication
meant to work?”
They peer at me over the prescription with the suspicious demeanour of those
convinced my mission in life is to make them worse, not better, thus keeping me
in business with a full clinic. “I see so many other patients on this same
tablet, doctor. Are you sure they don’t cause the voices rather than take them
away?”…
