Fish oil saved my marriage

Generally, I am not much of a one for thinking about my mental health. I cringe at the mention of "stress", and would run a mile from the prospect of psychotherapy: I don't want to talk endlessly about the strains of modern life to someone who might be getting a kick out of the power he or she holds over me.

Even so, after the birth of my last child, I was finding it increasingly difficult to make a go of my life. With three vigorous small boys, an unruly house and a fledgling publishing company (I had decided to go it alone with my own imprint), I was finding it hard to prioritise and meet the many different obligations of work, family and school-related activities. However, when I went to our excellent GP, he looked at me over his half-moon glasses and said in an avuncular way: "You are far too competent to be suffering from stress." I knew that ought to be true, and sheepishly made my way out.

For all my scepticism, I am not a mental-health innocent. My father used to be a professor of psychiatry; my eldest sister, Scilla, is a consultant psychiatrist and my middle sister, Ilona, is a psychologist.

Despite my doctor's assurances, the mood swings, anxiety and bad temper - symptoms of the dreaded stress - did not go away. I sometimes found myself taking a very black view of life. It only took some small thing to go wrong - a letter to get lost, a plate to break - for me to explode. Sometimes I found relief in frantic housework, bordering on the obsessional. I would stay up into the middle of the night until I had accomplished everything. My husband - an even-tempered man who was not brought up with the emotional extremes that are part of my passionate family - was even moved to say that I should "see someone". It was not good. We all suffered, including the children. I suspect that some of my dearest friends were muttering "unbalanced".

Salvation arrived from an unexpected source. Scilla was giving me advice on vitamins and diet. Amid talk of kelp for hair loss after childbirth (highly recommended but the hair will grow everywhere), she let slip that fish oil tablets are the thing for just about any stress-related matter for women. They had been highly effective, she added, in treatment of patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic depression).

I did not let on but, at this, my ears pricked up. Even without reading the medical textbooks, I know that my mind seems to divide into two distinct parts. There's the fantasy side which gets me into trouble with credit cards and still enables me to daydream, and there's the other more workaday - I suppose you'd say rational - side, which I've never been much good at. My personality lurches from one pole to another, with mood swings to match.

I am not actually suffering from bipolar disorder, which is a serious mental condition involving severe mood swings. Perhaps that is why the fish oil tablets were so effective. There is research to suggest that 60 per cent of all mental problems are improved by taking tablets - any tablets, whatever they are made of. They give the sufferer the confidence to master his or her life. Still, I persist in thinking there is more to fish oil than that. Interestingly, scientists here and in America have been workingon the beneficial properties in treating depression of substances contained in certain fish oils for some 30 years. Parallel work has established the effectiveness of the Omega-3 in fish oil in helping conditions such as arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, menstruation problems and high cholesterol.

Sufferers from real depression may be able to take hope from the mood-stabilising effects of active substances contained within concentrated Omega-3 fatty acids. In countries where fish consumption is high, it has been observed that depression rates are lower than in lowfish- consumption countries. Harvard researchers have found that Omega-3 fatty acids helped to stabilise the mental functioning of bipolar patients. There are said to be 10,000 different fish oils which vary dramatically in chemical composition, and certain researchers in this country seem reluctant to spread the word about their research to a wider audience. But Harvard's Dr Andrew Stoll says that in a study of 30 patients who have been given fatty acid concentrate containing eicasapentanoic and docosahexanoic acid (both present in lower concentrations in commercially available tablets) symptoms have significantly reduced.

Who needs research? I believe I am a living embodiment of the lifeenhancing properties of fish oil. It has made me more tolerant of the mess generated by three young children and far calmer in disposition. So what if the tablets do not contain the pure active substances the scientists have talked about? It may be better that they don't.

The purer drugs, when they arrive, could have side-effects which my humble and unrefined fish oil does not. If you are interested in fish oil tablets, make sure they contain EPA fish oil concentrate - which is high in Omega-3. Salmon oil is said to be particularly effective, as are cod liver oil and halibut oil. As in all tablets from health food shops, there are different recommendations for each. However, quantity is the thing (three tablets seems to be the maximum dosage - although I often only remembered to take one a day).