Approche cognitivo-comportementale de l'asthme

The aim of this article is to analyze, from the data of the literature, the potential contribution of cognitive behavior therapy to the treatment of asthma. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is well known to be efficient in the management of negative emotions, of inadequate behavior and of non-compliance to medical treatment, due to chronic illnesses. The conceptuel bases and the different techniques of CBT are applied to asthma disease. The elaboration of a patient-focused diagnosis, which takes into account biomedical, socioprofessionnal, psychoaffective and cognitive components, leads to a therapeutic strategy, which icludes not only medical treatment, but also a series of educative measures and abilities that have to be acquired by the patient (such as self-assessment of symptoms, self-management of crises, control and adaptation to the environment and to activities, coping strategies, etc.) and also the evaluation of the abilities of the patient and the benefits in terms of morbidity, quality-of-life and social consequences. The cognitive behavior therapy approach in asthma is helpful, especially, for establishing an empathic and collaborative patient-physician relationship, for distinguishing subjective from objective components of dyspnea, for elaborating and carrying out the educational program, for diagnosing and treating the negative emotions and the inadequate coping strategies often associated with asthma and for evaluating the abilities of the patient and the results in terms of morbidity and quality-of-life.