Is Asthma a Psychosomatic Condition?

Asthma is a lung disease causing airways obstruction making it difficult for a sufferer to breathe normally. For a normal person breathing is a natural effortless exercise done involuntarily without any cognizance to the effort. But for asthmatics, normal breathing is in itself a colossal effort, debilitating the quality of life. What causes asthma? Is it a psychosomatic illness or a pathological condition like most other ailments? This issue has been debated for long time with no clear-cut consensus.

According to traditional viewpoint, asthma is primarily a somatoform disease with psychological variables. People have long believed asthma is all in the mind, and probably a lot many still do. The widely supported belief is that powerful emotions like anger, worry and fear trigger asthmatic attacks. This is not surprising since we all experience a change in breathing pattern whenever we are under a high state of excitement and stress. The other significant reasons believed to trigger asthma are anxiety and depression disorders.

However, modern researchers and health care professionals think otherwise and vehemently argue that asthma is a medical condition and needs to be treated by customary allopathic procedures. As per current understanding, asthma sets off in the following manner.

• The muscles in the airway spasm and constrict


• The inner linings swell


• Mucus builds up in the tubes further exacerbating breathing action

All of the above is followed by breathlessness, wheezing and coughing. Some of the main triggers are house dust, some kinds of food, sudden change in climate and certain chemicals.

Does all this mean there is a polarity in the understanding of asthma? The true picture may be somewhere in between purely physiological causes and psychological triggers. We suffer from many diseases because our in-built defense mechanism fail to fight the onslaught of infection or illness. Our mental well-being is a barometer to our physical well-being. Hence the dividing line between physiological and psychological causes is thin.

Whatever be the true cause, fighting asthma has to be a multi pronged strategy. The fact is, apart from stress and anxiety, environmental irritants, infections and exercise set off asthma attacks. For the sufferer the key lies in identifying the cause. If environmental factors are triggers, then avoidance is the best remedy. On the other hand if a sufferer feels stress elicits asthma attacks, then the approach in management of asthma will be altogether on a different platform.

Asthma being very debilitating it is important to identify the root cause in order to have a comprehensive and effective asthma management program. Inputs provided by the sufferer to the health care provider will play a vital role in identifying the true cause. Correct diagnosis may require an evaluation by both a physician and a behavioral therapist.

Until such time medical advances throw more light on the causes of asthma, management focus will be on psychological intervention, behavioral treatment and conventional medication.