Dear Ann Landers,
ow come you fell for that crazy letter from the woman who said she loved her husband but she had to divorce him because he gave her asthma and hives? Any idiot knows it's not possible to catch asthma or hives. These illnesses are not contagious. Now if she got the measles or the flu from her husband, that would be another matter. I hope you will correct yourself in the paper because a lot of people accept your word and you owe the public sensible answers. -Disillusioned

Dear Dis,
A person does not catch asthma or hives from another person in the same way that he might catch the mumps, but any physician will tell you that hives and asthma can be psychogenerated, which in plain English means "caused by an emotional problem." Fear, resentment, conflict, and guilt can make a person so ill he is unable to get out of bed in the morning. Ulcers, headaches, and backaches are only a few of the ailments that are often traced to an emo-tional problem. No one would be so foolish as to say an ulcer is contagious, but almost everybody who has an ulcer got it from somebody, usually a relative or a business associate. 56