One thing that seems to me left out of this discussion is the issue of subjectivity in disorders that involve chronic pain. Pain can only be measured subjectively, and if you feel that your pain is less severe, then by definition it is less severe. It may not be possible to change the physical causes of pain, but it is possible (sometimes) to find ways to keep it from dominating your life and your thoughts, to find ways to make it bother you less. In this case, feeling that you have control over the problem can result in a subjective improvement, even if the physical situation hasn't changed.

Another important issue is motivation to keep up with medical treatments, especially when you're talking about chronic diseases. If you are optimistic and have the support of your family and community, then you're more likely to check your blood sugar regularly, or take your inhaled corticosteroids daily, or stick to your eating plan, or whatever other measures you have to take to control the disease. I'm skeptical of direct mental control of disease, but emotional/social control of behavior can have an indirect effect by making the person adhere better to treatment.

Ah yes, can't help the poor because their lifestyles are so....declasse.

As far as what people eat goes, yes organic veggies are more expensive per calorie than junk food. But eating healthy isn't black and white -- you don't have to eat like a foodie aesthete, living on local organic produce and pasture-raised eggs, to eat healthier. There are lots of cheap, nutritious foods in the grocery store, if you know where to find them and prepare them. I think ThoughtsofSusan has a good point about learning how to shop. This is a basic life skill that ought to be at least addressed in school (along with basic financial management and comprehensive sex education).

"Tooth-whitening" is silly, but brushing and flossing really do make a difference in preventing infection, tooth decay, and tooth loss. Dental problems used to be among the most feared medical problems because they were painful and little could be done about them except pulling the tooth. Before antibiotics, gum infections were no joke. Most dental problems can now be prevented, so dentists now concern themselves more with merely cosmetic issues, but that's really a sign of how good dental preventive care has become. We're used to the idea that dental health is a minor adunct to general health, but that's not true, as anybody who has had major dental problems will tell you.

Well, I was going to write a longish comment, but I see that TCinLA said exactly, and I mean exactly, what I intended to say. I refer you to that post, one or two before this one. Ditto, ditto.

When people who haven't seen the Sopranos ask me whether I think they should watch it, I say no. Why? Because the show is well-written, well-acted, and highly entertaining; before long you will be addicted; and then you will feel compelled to watch episode after episode of cruelty, despair, and increasingly cartoonish violence. I wish I'd never started watching it.

It's interesting to me how many of the letters in this comment thread amount to "I love this or that show because it makes me feel so bad." Not that I want sweetness and light, but I don't understand why evil and hopelessness seem to be the only things that count as drama, or even entertainment. Shakespeare wrote comedies as well as ferocious tragedies, and some of the comedies are among his best plays.

Some anecdotes are more memorable, and more likely to be told, than others. If you hear a story about someone who tried and tried to get pregnant and then took time off from trying and, presto, got pregnant, you tend to remember it. If that same person didn't get pregnant, you probably wouldn't even hear the story, because they wouldn't talk about it.

theresa74 wrote: Those curves may look cute on the hanger, but no baby has hips.

This gets at another issue with baby clothes, which is that it's virtually impossible to try them on in the store. You buy something that looks like the right size, take it home, and then if it doesn't fit, you have the hassle of taking it back. I think this is one big reason that clothing companies get away with this stuff; a lot of times, if something doesn't fit, people eat the cost and give the clothes away. Given that you can't try the stuff on, baby clothes really should just be loose and/or stretchy.

90% of my daughter's clothes are a) hand-me-downs, b) bought used, or c) gifts. I only buy something new when we have an immediate need, e.g. for a sun hat or a jacket (or, when we were traveling, a clean t-shirt). If you pay $0 - $4 for an article of clothing and it doesn't fit, it's not that big a deal.

And yes, I've seen tiny baby t-shirts with gathers that make the shirt poof out as though there were breasts underneath. Ewww.

I sometimes wonder if the people who design "fashions" for kids have ever actually seen a baby. The proportions are all wrong -- waists too small, and arms and legs too long. Jeans are the worst: my daughter (20 months old) has never had a pair of jeans that fit her well, so she lives in soft cotton pants, leggings, and shorts, and loose little dresses.

For that matter, the idea of babies wearing jeans has always amused me. It's the ultimate divorce of jeans from their original function as work pants. Hey, baby, go muck out the barn!

If male soldiers are committing rapes as a matter of habit, they're not fit for service.