Rapid Responses to:

LETTERS:
James W Pennebaker, Antonio L Teixeira, Jr, Henrique Alvarenga-Silva, and A F Schilte
Somatisation in primary care
BMJ 2002; 324: 544 [Full text]
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Rapid Responses published:

[Read Rapid Response] You can't prescribe disclosure
Wolf Langewitz   (11 October 2002)

You can't prescribe disclosure 11 October 2002
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Wolf Langewitz,
PSychosomatic Medicine
CH-4031 Basle Switzerland

Send response to journal:
Re: You can't prescribe disclosure

I hope I'm not too late and that my response might be transferred to the authors and to J. Pennebaker. In my view the prime problem is that you can't prescribe closeness. The patient and we all as individuals have to decide whether we want to get emotional with someone else - be s/he as professional as s/he may be - exactly at this time, about exactly this issue.

To me the design profoundly violates any assumption about a patient-centred medicine

Sincerely yours,

Wolf Langewitz