Saving the Euro

The euro crisis is not surprising [The Euro's Last Stand? Dec. 5]. A common currency without common government can't work. Those who created the euro were perfectly aware of it, but they intended to force the peoples of Europe into a federation. The euro is an ideological construction, not an economic one. And unlike the U.S., Europe is not a nation. It would be better to go back to national currencies.
Pierre Denis, ECULLY, FRANCE

Michael Schuman writes that "Europeans will have to make the fateful choice between national sovereignty and the euro's well-being." The choice is easy: sovereignty and democracy are far more important than saving the euro.
Dennis Brinkeback, STOCKHOLM

I think many Germans would prefer to first check all other possible solutions   to the E.U. debt crisis before giving away our influence to a central European government (which will ultimately happen if we create a central position deciding Europe's fiscal matters), whose power could be abused.
Kevin Kurz, BERLIN

The E.U.'s economy is bigger than the U.S.'s, and the E.U. is less indebted than the U.S. So why do Americans and Time predict the doom of the euro, fanning fear that the euro is "breaking apart" and its "survival" is threatened, etc.? This is an impossible idea. Of course the bankruptcy of Greece, like all bankruptcies, would mean losses for workers, companies, banks and governments, but the euro will survive and retain its purchasing power all over Europe there is no other alternative for E.U. citizens, who have their incomes, assets and debts tied to the euro. So let bankruptcies and defaults take place. Don't waste good money trying to prevent the inevitable. The euro is not endangered it is stronger than the dollar.
Jukka Snall, HELSINKI

Rethinking Angst
Your story brings an important issue to light, but for most people, modern anxiety is harmful [The Two Faces of Anxiety, Dec. 5]. While the stressors faced by average citizens are nowhere near as physically threatening as the saber-toothed tigers our ancestors confronted, their frequency and lack of resolution generates chronic stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. This hormonal dysfunction impacts health issues like heart disease, infertility and cancer. As a doctor of naturopathic medicine, I find most patients require hormonal-imbalance correction in order for cognitive behavioral therapy   to be effective.
Penny Kendall Reed, N.D., TORONTO

As a clinical psychologist, I was impressed that TIME mentioned behavioral techniques used to treat everything from generalized anxiety to panic attacks. Such techniques often mitigate the need for drugs, which sometimes have paradoxical or addictive side effects.
Herbert S. Cohen, LONGBOAT KEY, FLA., U.S.

Thank you for your informative and intelligent article on that much misunderstood condition, anxiety. The fact that a renowned magazine has published such an essay will, I'm sure, comfort anxiety sufferers all over the world. It can be very de-stressing to know that the way you are feeling, even if unpleasant in the present moment, is understandable and treatable.
Sophie Erskine, LONDON

Alongside cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis could also work as an effective way of approaching real and neurotic anxieties. Many of our anxieties have their roots in our childhood, but we are not aware of them. Our parents are partially to blame for the hidden anxieties and depressions in our later life.
Nirmalya Mukherjee, KLOKATA

As a pharmacist for over 40 years, I have encountered many men and women looking for an antidote for work-induced stress. Many have been wives requesting vitamins to suit their husbands who come home in the evening only to slump in front of the television, often with an alcoholic drink. My response was always the same: don't buy vitamins, purchase a tracksuit and running shoes and go out immediately after work. This prescription is not new, but it will work for anyone who gives it a fair go.
John G. Coll, BANGOR, NORTHERN IRELAND