In the article about the placebo effect in the May 5 issue, Dr. Walter Brown advises physicians to "say something definitive like, ‘This medicine will take the anxiety away and you will feel better in a few days.’ "

This sounds like the treatment approach from which psychoanalysis evolved—suggestion. Suggestion is often effective, but it is risky because when it fails, the physician who has made such a warranty suffers an irrevocable loss of credibility. I believe it is wiser to express optimism more cautiously, as in, "This medicine usually takes the anxiety away, and most people who take it feel better in a few days."

Henry Pinsker, M.D.

Teaneck, N.J.