Diagnosing Asthma: "Hypersensitive Airways"

WHAT ROLE DO EMOTIONS PLAY IN ASTHMA?

A common misconception is that asthma is of psychological origin or is a psychosomatic disease. There is simply no basis in fact that asthma is caused by psychological factors. Most physicians accept that asthma attacks can be triggered by emotional factors, but emotions are simply one of several stimuli to which the hypersensitive airways of asthmatics may react (see Table 1 and Figure 2). Not being able to breath comfortably is emotionally distressing, so it is difficult to know if emotional upset is a stimulus or a result of the asthma attack.

Psychoanalytic thought has in the past emphasized a faulty mother-child relationship involving asthmatic children. This is a myth not substantiated by scientific evidence; in fact many asthmatic children have a normal, healthy mother-child relationship. Certainly the relationship between a mother and her asthmatic child can be unhealthy from a psychological point of view and make the affliction worse. However, this is also true with many chronic diseases, and does not in any way imply a cause and effect relationship.