Sir: We were interested to read Ritchie et al's (Psychiatric Bulletin, December 2000, 24, 447-450) findings on what individuals in contact with psychiatric services wish to be called and we would like to add our own preliminary results from our ongoing project, which support their findings.

Out of 137 consecutive attenders at a general adult psychiatry clinic, 114 (83%) preferred to be described as a ‘patient’, 18 (13%) preferred to be described as a ‘client’ and the remainder express no preference, or preferred other terms.

These results provide further evidence to support the use of the traditional term ‘patient’ rather than politically correct alternatives. The Orwellian use of language may damage the speciality of psychiatry by marginalising it in the field of medicine and contributing to the stigma of mental illness. The majority of individuals who visit psychiatrists subjectively describe suffering (patire). Many individuals visiting cardiologists do not describe subjective suffering - they have no symptoms. Cardiologists are unlikely to address their patients as client - why should psychiatrists?