Q. Diagnosis of MD at age 22, however I believe as a hyperactive child have had it all my life. (I am now nearly 42 years old.) Treatment in UK is control - med only, so I am a part-qualified transactional analysis from my own need to discover myself and rescript my life (no counseling provided here on the NHS, or very little.)

I have had varied periods of hospitalization in the past but now self-manage and the ultimate aim is to self-medicate as I know and have studied nutrition/alternative medicines. I am Buddhist in my philosophy and practice reiki using crystals and aromatherapy/reflexology. My knowledge of prescription drugs and "recreational" has been gained by living for 15 years with a registered drug addict - the father of my son. A symbiotic relationship, that now thankfully is in the past.

The reason for this note is to say I firmly believe that mania does not equal psychosis: maybe there is a different form, but a manic person certainly from my perspective and at times I have flown very high - still possesses a degree of insight and can respond in TA terms to adult-adult and nurturing parent communications.

That is why I disagree with anti-psychotic drugs (also I am allergic to and suffer from severe side effects with all except Respiradone.) In my case I only ever go up before a low and even then when under tremendous pressure.

I believe that all a manic patient needs is sleep and that still in some countries including France treatment is with narcolepsy. For this reason I ensure that I keep a supply of Nitrazipam sleepers on hand in case I get into an upwards spiral.

  A. While you may have faith in this particular therapy, it is faith and not fact. Narcolepsy is ineffective in mania. Period. Sure folks have some insight when they are manic, but they are not capable of functioning adequately. Pretending it is okay and using crystals is ludicrous. It is like believing in the tooth fairy. Nice thought, no reality. I hope you do not try to get people with mania to do TA alone. It is a horrible thing to do while manic and something you should be ashamed of doing. Just because you have unrealistic beliefs and a bad response to one group of medications does not mean they are wrong. On the contrary they work. Your therapy does not. Clearly your thoughts are disturbed or others would not have used antipsychotics. Your beliefs and practices are detrimental to the field.