Childhood asthma. A controlled trial of family psychotherapy.

In an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of family psychotherapy as an adjunct conventional treatment in childhood asthma, children with moderate to severe asthma were randomly allocated to a control group or to an experimental group; the latter group received 6 hours of family treatment during a 4-month period, and both groups had standard medical treatment. While there was no significant difference between the two groups on three parameters, the experimental group were significantly better in day-wheeze score and thoracic gas volume. These results suggest that family treatment in selected cases may have a place in the overall management of childhood asthma, and that more research with larger numbers of children is necessary.