Alcohol is a social drug but also blots out desolate feelings and can be a symptom of mental illness. A Griffiths (Letters, August 28) encapsulates my own feelings on this subject.

In 1988 the large asylums were closed down and Care in the Community was replaced.

I became very much involved in homelessness and mental health issues in Hastings, liaising with the council and MP and helping in a day centre.

Dr David Owen (now Lord Owen and former Foreign Secretary), who was a neurological and psychiatric registrar and research fellow in St Thomas' Hospital, wrote to me thus: "There have been cases of former patients turning up at out-patients departments nearly starving, confused and with nowhere to stay."

There is a dichotomy of agreement about alcoholism because some agents say this is an illness while others disagree.

If it is an extra symptom of unipolar or bipolar disorder, then they have to be treated.

My grandfather was an alcoholic and came home and beat my grandmother up while my mother and aunt hid under the table.

My grandmother stayed with him for the sake of the children until they were old enough to leave home. They were both scarred by their childhood experiences and I inherited some of that angst.

At the last local elections the Labour Party sent me a form and asked what I felt was most imperative in the city. I said a wet and a dry shelter but soon after read that a detox unit had been turned down.

Surely many of our councillors would welcome these shelters?

Bill Grant (Letters, August 8) would call me a bleeding heart and suggest I live with these people.

Well I have, Bill. It was not easy but for those with mental health and/or alcohol problems it is hell on earth.

-Carole Irvine, Brighton