As you report in your leader and article in the Science and Technology Section, only about five percent of alternative-medicine treatments have been shown not to be hokum (“There is No Alternative” and “Think Yourself Better,” May 21, 2011). Some herbal treatments appear to be the only exception. However, the research you cite also suggests that alternative medicine often offers a very real placebo effect. A large part of it has to do with “good bedside manners” of its practitioners. This is where non-alternative medicine has much to learn. Although the placebo effect is well understood by doctors, they are often leery of prescribing them, for they feel that they are deceiving their patients. But it is likely that further research will show that it is not only the patients’ beliefs that are important in placebo treatments. Beliefs of alternative-medicine practitioners themselves must be part of the cure, as well. The more convinced they are in their treatments, the more likely they are to be effective with their patients. And placebo’s placebo is therefore yet another thing that non-alternative medicine needs to master over and above good bedside manners.