The role of suggestion in asthma. I. Effects of inactive solution on bronchial reactivity under bronchoconstrictor or bronchodilator suggestion

Twenty-eight subjects affected by perennial asthma were selected in order to investigate the possibility of inducing or relieving an asthmatic attack by means of suggestion. Twenty-five were positive to methacholine challenge test and among them, eleven reacted to an ultrasonic nebulized distilled water test. The effect of suggestion on airway response was assessed by eight inhalations of normal saline at 32 °C alternately presented as a bronchoconstrictor or as a bronchodilator drug. Eight inhalations of the same diluent without any psychic stimulus were used as control test. Seven patients reacted with bronchoconstriction to both positive and negative suggestion and to control test. Further, this group of patients showed a lower methacholine PD20 when compared with the other subjects. In this study, the effects of suggestion on bronchial reactivity were not observed and bronchoconstriction belonged to an individual hyperreactivity of the airways.