Letters

How

There are so many studies confirming the health benefits of meditation that it's a wonder it isn't as universal as brushing our teeth.
PHILIP ROSOFF-HORNE
Carmichael, Calif.

In your articles about mind and body and the effect of one on the other [SPECIAL ISSUE, Jan. 20], I was intrigued by the evidence that depression can worsen pre-existing diseases and may be implicated in the onset of others. I don't know, however, if pursuing happiness is the antidote to the seemingly widespread depression of our times. Having a moral purpose, ethics and values is what gives life meaning. Such a life will not always be happy — whose is?--but it will be worthwhile. And I believe the immunity-boosting value of living a moral life can have disease-fighting effects.
RAISY WIESEL
Montreal

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As a massage therapist, i have seen improvement in people's health when they commit to at least two massages a month. By allowing the body to rest, one finds the natural tools to heal. I am honored to be able to help people achieve a healthier life.
NEUSA MARIA SILVA
San Diego

Your excellent essays on links between mental and physical health brought to mind Maimonides, court physician to Sultan Saladin in the 12th century. Comparing Maimonides' approach with the more traditional one of the Greek physician Galen, a grateful patient wrote, "Galen's art heals only the body, but Maimonides' the body and soul."
HENRY WINTERS
Columbia, S.C.

I was frustrated by your easy dismissal of French philosopher Rene Descartes's theory of mind-body dualism. This brilliant man did not contend that the mind had no influence on the body, or the body on the mind. In letters to friends who were ill, he urged them to keep objects that they liked around them to raise their spirits. His argument held that the mind was simply a different substance from the body. Even as scientists identify the various electronic and chemical signals of the brain, they cannot say with certainty how the signals function. Descartes's theory of the brain could not fully explain how it worked either.
RACHEL WALLACE
Montgomery, Ala.

Alternative-medicine proponent Dr. Andrew Weil recommends breath work (breathing deeply, slowly, quietly) as the most powerful method he knows to reduce anxiety. I agree. I am a clinical psychologist who had practiced for 29 years before I ever encountered breath work. For the 25 years since then, I have limited my practice to teaching breathing exercises to those who come to me with psychological problems. In just a few breathing sessions, people can easily and comfortably transform their lives and learn a technique they can use to let go of negative feelings so they truly heal. Breath work does more than just stop panic. It enables a person to become free of confusing, static attachments to the past. We should be teaching breath work in grade school.
EVE JONES
Los Angeles

Oh, for the good old days of Sigmund Freud! You reported that his understanding of the complexity and mystery of the human mind has been unsurpassed. He insisted that the human condition is more than mental health or illness, that it is both tragic and majestic in scope. We have better living through chemistry and self-help bromides for happiness. As a no-longer-practicing therapist, I have seen the rise of the so-called dramatic cluster of personality disorders. Have you noticed an increase in such disorders in our political and corporate leaders as we witness their unbridled narcissism and antisocial traits?
LIBBY WEIN
Los Angeles

No Laughing Matter

In his article "How We Get Labeled [JAN. 20], John Cloud stated that the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) helps categorize "all the ways America is nuts." Since it is no longer politically correct to make racial slurs or joke about physical handicaps, it would appear that the last bastion of acceptable derision is mental illness. By poking fun at rare conditions such as fetishism, this article ends up stigmatizing the millions who suffer from the entire range of mental disorders defined in the DSM and trivializing the scientific advances for such disorders. It is regrettable that TIME could not see the damaging effect this skeptical story could have on people with serious disorders.
DARREL A. REGIER, M.D., DIRECTOR
DIVISION OF RESEARCH
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION
Arlington, Va.

Cloud did a much needed job of debunking the DSM. He objectively showed that the book and the process behind it are essentially political in nature and not medical or scientific. And none of us want our ailments to be diagnosed by a politician, do we?
RIGGS ECKELBERRY
Marina del Ray, Calif.

Beating the War Drums

You asked if war with Iraq could be avoided [WORLD, Jan. 20]. It could if President Bush would just calm down a bit. I understand that he is "sick and tired of games and deceptions" on the part of Saddam. But I am not sick and tired. And what about the other 280 million Americans? Are they sick and tired of Saddam's actions? Bush will not wait for the U.N. to do its job. This President thinks he knows better than the entire world. It is a shame.
IRAN AUSLEY
West Hills, Calif.