Long ago (like in the 50s and 60s), people with asthma and other allergies were often labeled as having emotional problems. Then we got a fuller understanding of the physiologic mechanisms of these illnesses--and some decent drugs with which they could be treated--and we dropped the psychological explanations. But now we may be coming back to the middle. New data suggest the degree to which stress can worsen allergic reactions. This elegant study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association last week and is reported today by ScienceDaily.
The study, conducted at Ohio State, involved 28 people who had a history of hay fever and other seasonal allergies. During several days of research, they underwent lots of skin-prick testing, and gave blood and saliva samples. They also took some psychologic tests to assess their stress and anxiety levels. Here's an excerpt from the story at ScienceDaily. The people they quote are investigators involved with the study:
“Basically the participants each appeared before a panel of several ‘evaluators’ who supposedly were behavioral experts. Participants had to give a 10-minute speech, which was videotaped, and then are asked a series of math questions they had to solve without paper or pen.”
Afterwards, they had to watch their videotaped performance.
The researchers measured the raised “wheals” that formed on the arms of the participants before and after they were stressed, as well as the next day.
“The wheals on a person who was moderately anxious because of the experiment were 75 percent larger after the experiment, compared to that same person’s response on the day when they were not stressed,” Kiecolt-Glaser said, signifying a stronger reaction.
“But people who were highly anxious had wheals that were twice as big after they were stressed compared to their response when they were not stressed. Moreover, these same people were four times more likely to have a stronger reaction to the skin test one day later after the stress,” she said.
This next-day change – labeled a “late-phase reaction” – is important because it signals an ongoing and strengthening response to the allergens, and even suggests that sufferers may react strongly to other stimuli that previously hadn’t caused them to develop an allergic reaction.
