ABSTRACT
The largest group of studies concern behavioral patterns that accompany maladaptive respiration. Modifying respiration-related behaviors frequently results in a change in the inappropriate respiratory pattern. Such investigations include the use of systematic desensitization to eliminate anxiety when it is a concomitant of asthma or altering malingering-like behaviors in asthmatic children by using a time-out from positive reinforcement procedure which has reduced the severity of asthma. Thus, while this type of intervention has an obvious disadvantage in that the therapist does not actually focus on respiratory dysfunctioning, per se, such tactics do produce benefits for the patient. Though the behavior therapy treatment for the cough could have been undertaken without the family interviews, the information gained clearly helped to specify the precipitating stimuli as well as to confirm the learned basis of the problem.
