It was with great relief that I read your article ("Woman found guilty of killing husband," July 9) about the verdict in the Mary Koontz trial. As a licensed clinical professional counselor and as a concerned citizen, I have been increasingly appalled by the use and abuse of mental health diagnoses to explain or justify anti-social behaviors.

First, help in the form of psychotherapy and medications is more widely and readily available now in our country than at any

time previously. Second, even with diagnoses — whether of mood disorders, thought disorders, dissociative disorders, or personality disorders — there remains the issue of individual responsibility. We would be entering treacherous waters were we to become a society so 'soft' on crime. To that end, I think that Victor Frankl's book, "Man's Search for Meaning," should be required reading for all.

Myra MacCuaig, Towson