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Simon Auster, MD, JD

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The article on self-disclosure by McDaniel et al¹ was a welcome acknowledgment of the importance of the topic. Beginning medical students, not appreciating the power of the question and lacking the technical knowledge to draw on, too readily fall back on personal experience and self-disclosure for material in speaking with patients. I have found it to be consistently helpful in only 1 situation: When a patient and medical student have shared a military experience, a bond is created that dissolves barriers to communication one might otherwise expect to be present.

Several elements in the article concerned me. Most important was the reliance on speculation regarding the effects of self-disclosure. The results of this unverifiable hypothesizing is particularly questionable insofar as it is the collective guess of a group of knowledgeable professionals working from a transcript of the emotional state of a layperson in an emotionally charged . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Physician Self-disclosure in Primary Care Visits: Enough About You, What About Me?
Susan H. McDaniel, Howard B. Beckman, Diane S. Morse, Jordan Silberman, David B. Seaburn, and Ronald M. Epstein
Arch Intern Med. 2007;167(12):1321-1326.
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