VERBAL DESENSITISATION IN THE TREATMENT OF BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

A woman with severe late-onset asthma, which had not responded to corticosteroid treatment in hospital, recovered and has remained completely free of asthma for the five years since she was desensitised to descriptions of her asthma attacks and of the circumstances in which they occurred. The term verbal desensitisation distinguishes this from other methods such as desensitisation to allergens, or graduated practice. The patient was relaxed, and then the disturbing items were described to her in precisely controlled steps until she no longer reacted to them. Later, she gradually returned to the situations which had once disturbed her.