Medicinally Speaking

In his review of the documentary photo show at Loyola’s Laband Gallery (“Traveling Back Along the Tracks of Times,” Sept. 9), I was dismayed by William Wilson’s offhand comparison of crack users to users of Prozac. He states, with respect to the relativity of crime, “A poverty-stricken crack-addict is a criminal, while a rich Prozac habitue is admirably controlling his emotions.” He has done a disservice to anyone who suffers from depression. His careless choice of words promotes the already common stigmatization of antidepressant users as self-indulgent hedonists looking for an easy fix.

One wonders what a Prozac “habitue” might be. As far as I know, a habitue is “one who frequents a place.” In the future, when Wilson makes social commentary, I hope he will weigh his words more carefully.

SANDRA L. MITCHELL, Los Angeles