Rational men and the explanatory model approach

The previous issue of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry (Vol. 5, N. 4) included my article When Rational Men Fall Sick: An Inquiry into Some Assumptions Made by Medical Anthropologists together with a series of comments. This paper consists of my replies to some of the commentators and a case study illustrating my points.My collaborators in this research were two physicians, Dr. Robert Like, of the Department of Family Practice of Case Western Reserve University and Dr. Rivka Plotkin of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel). Also, I want to thank Avraham Blidstein for his invaluable assistance.