Anyone who visits a psychotherapist needs their head examined

Anyone who visits a psychotherapist needs their head examined

06 Mar 2003

Information correct on date of event.

Ever since Freud urged his first patient to put her feet up on the couch, we have looked to psychotherapy to provide comfort and enlightenment. Indeed, today, more than one million British people are paying for treatment of some sort. But is all this just chatter for the chattering classes and an elaborate waste of time and money?

It's worse than that, says Britain's celebrated agony aunt, Virginia Ironside: it's often positively harmful. It engenders misery by getting people to wallow in gloomy experiences - and it's socially destructive. But we ignore the inner world of dreams, fantasies and emotions at our peril, says Professor Andrew Samuels, one of the world's leading practitioners of psychotherapy. This inner world is our most precious possession and we need people to help us decipher it. Far from being a waste of money, psychotherapy saves millions of pounds in terms of hours not lost at work through emotional difficulties, reduced drug bills and hospital stays.

Final vote: 120 For, 186 Against

The debate took place at The Royal Geographical Society, Ondaatje Theatre.

Speakers for the motion:

Dr Raj Persaud: Consultant Psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, London and presenter of All in the Mind on BBC Radio 4.

Virginia Ironside: Celebrated 'agony aunt', currently writing a weekly column for the Independent.

Speakers against the motion:

Professor Peter Fonagy: Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis and Director of Clinical Health Psychology at University College London.

Professor Andrew Samuels: One of Britain's best known psychotherapists whose work on politics, men, and fathers has achieved international recognition. He was elected one of the first group of Honorary Fellows of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and was the founder of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility. He is Professor of Analytical Psychology at Essex and holds Visiting Professorships at New York, London and Roehampton Universities.

Chair: Andrew Neil Publisher, editor, writer, broadcaster and business consultant on media matters. He is Publisher of Press Holdings, owners of The Business in London and The Scotsman in Edinburgh. He also presents BBC TV's "Daily Politics" and "This Week". During his career, he has been editor of The Sunday Times and UK Editor of The Economist.