Alexithymia

To the Editor: I would like to add a cautionary footnote to Dr. Lesser's discussion of alexithymia in the March 14 issue. 1 Even as recently as four years ago, Lesser stated, "this new concept is being perceived as an established entity prematurely despite the lack of a firm data base to support it." 2 Though much work has been done in the past four years to define and elucidate alexithymia, more recent articles have echoed this warning. 3 , 4 Arthur Kleinman has pointed out that "medical 'realities'... become the object of medical attention and therapeutics" by way of a complex social process that . . .