It was with great sadness that I learned of what I would term as the premature demise of the ex-Catholic priest and wonderful and poetic writer on spirituality, John O’Donoghue.  When I mentioned this to a friend she promptly replied ‘maybe his work here was done.’  I would like to believe that this is the case.  I never met John, even though I feel that each of us was very aware of each other’s work in coming to terms with our own demons and in creating opportunities for individuals to come to a place of a mature relationship with self, others and the world.  I do feel benefit of his presence.  Somehow, his work was a source of support, something that I could turn to in times of my own doubts, fears and insecurities.  His phenomenally popular book Anam Chara (Soul Friend) is an inspiration and John was one of the few writers on spirituality that deeply touched me.  There was a conviction to this writings in a language that is metaphorical and poetic.  For me, metaphor is the language of the sacred self that is each one of us. 

I have said it many times that our most uncomfortable responsibility is the development of self-reliance.  It appears that we will do anything to maintain lean-to-relationships on people or work or substances or success or maturity.  The use of alcohol as a substitute to fill the void of low self-esteem has been a long, enduring practice in Ireland and it continues, particularly among young people.  The reliance on prescribed drugs as substitutes for the real need to take charge of our lives has reached epidemic proportions.  This year, December 29th marks the 20th anniversary of the US marketing of Prozac as the ‘wonder drug’; there are currently over 54 million people taking the drug.  There are many other millions of people on its sister sedative serotonin oxidase inhibitors (SSRI’s).  Such high prescribing of these drugs continues in spite of a warning in 2004 which linked antidepressants with increased incidence of suicidal thoughts in children and adolescents.  Neither has the fact that sixty per cent of people remain on anti-depressants for the rest of their lives deterred people from taking these drugs.  What the long term effects are is not known but doubtless will emerge.

A common psychosomatic complaint is having ‘a lump in the throat’ or ‘a terrible pain in my throat’ or ‘a constant need to clear my throat.’  The medical term for this condition is ‘globus hystericus’ – or lump in the throat.  It was Sigmud Freud who first described the condition and he saw it as a symptom of stress, anxiety or depression.  The experience can be intensely painful or a constant irritant.  Some individuals worry that they may have throat cancer and contact their local general medical practitioner.  Once the doctor has ruled out cancer, he or she tends to consign the symptoms to that seemingly grey area of ‘emotional unknown’ and prescribe antidepressants or mild tranquilisers.  However, what the person really needs is the emotional safety and support to speak what, to this point in time, has been unspeakable.  

n spite of the originator, Dr. Robert Spitzer, of the ADHD syndrome and other such conditions, admitting that he got it wrong because he had failed to look at the contexts of labelled children’s lives, the practice continues of testing children for these non-existent biological syndromes.  There are 500,000 children in Britain who have been given the label ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).  Curiously, only 55,000 of them have received some type of treatment.  The most common treatment is prescribed stimulants, like Ritalin and Concerta.  There are thousands of children in Ireland who have also been labelled with ADHD and most of them have been medicated.