Psychosomatic Correlates of Asthma

There are many psychological and physical illnesses which grasp a huge part of the human population since the inception of creation and man has been trying to reveal the actual cause of the particular illness.

The interest of the research work has been primarily on un covering the psychological and emotional factors that lead to the development of asthmatic disorder.

The present investigation focuses on the psychological causes of the asthma attacks in the patients considering asthma as a psychological disorder. The distinctive characteristic of this type of diseases lies in the fact that their original cause of genesis remains unknown however psychological relationship has been found in producing and developing these diseases undoubtedly.

An extensive theoretical work provides an excellent opportunity for a clear understanding of this complicated are of psychological features of asthmatics.

The book has been divided into eight sections to facilitate the readers/researchers to understand the systematic way of formulation of problems, hypotheses, analysis and interpretation of the results in the light of previous researchers.

Dr. Manoj Kumar Chauhan is Assistant Professor of Psychological at G.K. University Haridwar. He received his Ph.D. from the G.K. University, Haridwar. His area of interest has been in research methodology as well as experimental psychology.

Dr. Chauhan has high research aptitude and attended a large number of conferences presenting learned research papers thereon. His research papers are accepted and published in several noted journals and magazines. He has published more than fifteen research papers in professional journals.

Chauhan’s current research interests focus mainly on
1. Role of occupational environmental in promoting stress, depression and inferiority and insecurity feelings in adhoc teachers in colleges.
2. Child labour and personality dynamics.
3. Psychological problems viz. cardiovascular diseases.

Health is undoubtedly, an indispensable quality in human being. It has been described as soil form which the finest flowers grow. In order to enjoy life one needs to be healthy. People who are not healthy are called sick. They can not perform well and meet the various demands of life. Health is important for a person individually as well as socially. In order to be a productive member of society, we need an alert mind and an active body. The field of health psychology deals with psychological factors which are important in maintaining and fostering health and well being. Also, it explores the factors which lead to the condition of illness. This field has become very important in recent years. It has become increasingly clear that the life style or our ways of thinking and behaving are contributing to the health status of the people.

The present research work which has been presented in the form of book entitled “ Psychosomatic Correlates of Asthma” was done on author’ own on male and female asthmatic patients in terms of psychosomatic manifestations.

I give my best wishes to Dr. Manoj Kumar Chauhan for his valuable work which is useful to the research scholars and scientists studying in the field of clinical psychological as well as medical sciences.

Traditionally, the medical profession has been concerned with physical illness and has concentrated research efforts on understanding and controlling the organic factors in disease. In Psychopathology, on the other hand, interest has centered primarily on uncovering the psychological and emotional factors that lead to the development of mental disorders. But, today, we realize that both of these approaches are limited; although an illness may be primarily physical or psychological, it is always a disorder of the whole person – not just of the lungs or psyche.

Actually, we consider that the physical and psychological both the factors are involved in the occurrences of any psychological disease. It shows the view that psychological being and biological being are not separate. In short, the individual is a psychobiological unit in continual interaction with the environment. And this is also the emerging point of the concept of the term “psychosomatic” which is referred to those physical illnesses which are primarily caused by psychological reasons rather than organic ones. Asthma is also considered to be a psychosomatic disorder as it appear in a great number of cases triggering through the psychological and emotional reasons and the fruitless effects of psychotherapy in the interventions of asthmatic patients even indicates the psychological basis of this disease.

The Ex-Post Facto investigation on “Psychosomatic Correlates of Asthma” includes all possible quarries under the factorial settings of such complicated variables. The book deserves to be read by research students and scientists studying the relationship of psychosomatic diseases with the emotional behavior. The author deserves our hearty congratulations.