I believe I suffer from social phobia, and found Jon Sutton's remark highly unfunny (25 May, p 58). His was a typical reaction to the conditionalso known as social anxietyand demonstrates exactly why sufferers would be so unwilling to volunteer for the proposed trials. We fear exposure to "normal" people's scorn. I'm sure that Roche Australia will find it nigh on impossible to discover any sociophobes while the world finds the condition such a source of fun.
Jokes about social phobia are the same as jokes about any medical problem. They don't help anybody.
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