49: Doctor Self help

Doctors are prescribing self-help books

I'm a Samaritan and most of the calls we get are from patients of doctors who cannot spend enough time with them and have traditionally been prescribed anti-depressants, as the doctor cannot spare 15 minutes to talk the persons problems through. Prescribing books instead of drugs has to be a good idea and maybe it legitimises a business that always has trouble being taken seriously by the media. The biggest selling genre of books is self-help but they are derided by those who are confidently happy with their lives – and journalists.