Their marketing budgets are so enormous because they have to persuade doctors and patients to prescribe one me-too drug over another.

I'm usually trying to persuade patients that they aren't allergic to something," Resnick tells WebMD.

A further method involves the therapist using a special helmet to persuade patients that the therapist's suggestions are controlling their minds.

So when prices of both generic and over-the-counter versions of Prilosec plunge, managed-care companies will try to persuade patients taking other pills to switch.

Some critics are concerned that some doctors may also have a financial interest in persuading patients to switch.

They are trying to persuade patients to switch their insurance to plans not administered by FPA health plans.

Still, clinic staff members say they often have to persuade patients with a long drive ahead of them not to leave before the allotted recovery time.

Persuading patients to swallow up to a dozen pills a day is never easy, and without unusual efforts it rarely succeeds.

Perhaps the greatest single problem with diet as an instrument of therapy is persuading patients to comply with it.

Researchers and their institutions may have vested interests in persuading patients to participate in studies.