On the Couch

To the Editors:

You made a wrong diagnosis in "Psychiatry's Depression" [April 2]. After a prolonged high, or hypomania, psychiatry's descent to a healthy normal only seems like a depression. Most of us who practice this medical specialty are pleased with its present position.

Raymond B. ReinhartJr., M.D. New Hope, Pa.

Psychiatry is not in a "depression,' as you so charitably put it. Psychiatry, like the behavioral sciences it spawned, is bankrupt and should be put to rest. The theories of Freud and his disciples have produced illiterates in our schools, turned prisons into training grounds for criminals, perverted our judicial system, created the Me-First society and expounded economic policies that have virtually ruined us financially.

Alfred Humbert Jr. Chicago

It comes as no surprise that the Me generation is committing psychoanalysis to the grave. Would Narcissus have liked an analyst who threw stones in his pool?

Jeb Burrows Cliffside Park, N.J.

Most people do not have psychological problems; they have spiritual problems. Psychiatry seems to run in horror from this essential dimension of the human being.

Joan Williams Ward Philadelphia

The quote attributed to me, "A Cadillac may be a very fine car to drive, but it would be uneconomical to say we're dedicated to buying Cadillacs for every person in our society," lends itself to the cynical misinterpretation that good psychotherapy is too expensive for the average person. On the contrary, it is too expensive for society not to provide good psychiatric care for all who need it. Failure to do so results in far greater indirect costs to society in terms of increased medical expenses, absenteeism, child abuse, delinquency, crime and alcoholism, among other problems. The shorter-term treatments that I and others have been advocating for some (not all) conditions are not inferior substitutes, but actually more effective ways of achieving desired therapeutic objectives.

Judd Marmor, M.D. Los Angeles

Anyone going to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.

Albert J. Silverstein New Rochelle, N. Y.

I can testify, from personal experience, that psychotherapy can be an extremely successful form of treatment for personality disorders. It has enriched my life immensely.

(Mrs.) Thelma E. Bradt Fairfax, Va.

Not only medical degrees are "hare won." A Ph.D. in clinical psychology requires four years of graduate training and a year of internship. I doubt that many of us clinical psychologists simply "chat sympathetically and tell a patient 'You're much too hard on yourself.'

Richard Spring Paris, Tenn.

Debate on the Draft

Re "Uncle Sam Wants Who?" [April 2]: the Declaration of Independence states that an inalienable right is that of the "pursuit of happiness." There are many of us who do not consider being forced to kill others pursuing happiness. The draft is inherently immoral, and any attempts to reinstate it should be resisted.

Kathleen Scott West Chester, Pa.

Individual freedom is one of this country's greatest assets, but freedom without an accompanying sense of responsibility by all of us is a sham, especially when our national security is at stake-and it is.

Frank Davis Redondo Beach, Calif.

Congress should have thought more carefully about the all-volunteer force before it decided to eliminate so many benefits to cut the budget. The all-volunteer force has only started to fail since the benefits have been "dropping like flies." There is not much left to entice young people to enlist.

(Sgt.) Paul A. Thornton, U.S.A.F. Omaha

If the Joint Chiefs of Staff went fishing in the ocean and returned emptyhanded, they'd probably blame it on a lack of available fish. In truth, there is no shortage of young men; it's just that with its reluctance to change with the times, the military is able to attract only 13% of the country's youth. Changing of the hair regulations alone would probably attract millions more into the armed forces.

Joe Astuto Carlsbad, Calif.

Humiliation of Rape

As a rape victim, I am encouraged to see that someone is actually making progress in seeing that sex offenders won't continue to walk out of courtrooms with smug grins on their faces [April 2]. It's bad enough to suffer the humiliation of rape, but twice as bad to suffer the degradation of a court system and lawyers who regard the offender as the injured party.

Donna Owen Tulsa

It has been said that women invite attack by the way they dress, or by leading men on and then withholding their favors. This may be true. But did you ever get an invitation that you couldn't turn down? Whatever the girl did, the man's crime is no less horrendous than if she were the epitome of virtue.

Carl E. Stringfield Bloomington, III.

In most rape cases, I believe that the charge of kidnaping also ought to apply. No matter how temporarily, rape involves unlawful detention of the victim, even if the crime occurs in the victim's home.

Warren H. MacDonald Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Islam's Sexism

Jane O'Reilly's report on the "Iranian Women's Revolution" [April 2] lucidly and sensitively covered an often misunderstood issue. Rather than take the easy way out and slur Islamic principles as the root of Middle Eastern sexism, she has demonstrated that it is the patriarchal interpreters of Islam who have perpetrated women's oppression. That practice, I might add, is surely not unknown in many Christian sects as well.

Susan T. Rivers Dublin

Goldmann and Arafat

Re the information given in TIME: I inform you that there are at this stage no negotiations under way concerning a meeting between myself and P.L.O. Leader Yasser Arafat [April 9].

Nahum Goldmann Paris

No Middle East Payoff

Your story "Peace: Risks and Rewards" [March 26] was notable for its failure to mention any rewards for Americans. Will this peace between Israel and Egypt better our relations with the U.S.S.R. or decelerate Moscow's growing influence over its neighbors, increase our access to energy sources, reduce our rate of inflation, improve our balance of payments, help balance our budget or increase our national security?

Kenneth B. Demaree Southbury, Conn.

Uncomfortable Bed

We Americans like to rail against OPEC and its supposedly sinister oil-pricing policies [April 2], but isn't it just practicing orthodox capitalism as taught in every American business school and as honed to perfection by American businessmen? We have made our own uncomfortable bed, and now we must lie on it.

D.F. Downing Santa Barbara, Calif.

Where the Rich Invest

The article on the investments of those moneybags [April 2] may interest some, but unfortunately has little relevance to most of us. Those affluent few who can afford to invest in vineyards, professional football teams or Reno condominium developments can also afford to lose tens of thousands of dollars, while the small investor can be wiped out by the merest fluctuation of the market.

Charles Koch lacs Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Pinyin Chinese

Congratulations on adopting the Pinyin spelling of Chinese words [March 26]. I never did know how to pronounce an apostrophe.

Ann Williams Chicago

The English-speaking world is groaning about the adoption of Pinyin. Having been raised with a language that contains such combinations as "rhythm," "syzygy" and "gnathic," and in which gh, ph and ff can all sound alike, I don't see what the fuss is about. But then, conversion to the metric system hasn't progressed well, even though it too is easier to use.

Mary F. Schmidt Boston

There is no reason to gripe about changing the spelling of Peking to Beijing. Beijing is much closer to the Chinese pronunciation. One thing we can do to get even is to ask the Chinese to quit calling the U.S. capital "Huashendun" and the current President "Kate."

L.S. Chen Abernathy, Texas

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