The benefits to overall health of psychotherapy and counseling may not seem as obvious as those derived from other therapies.
However, there is little doubt that your emotional life affects how you feel physically as well as mentally.
Many studies have shown that a positive outlook can help patients recover from illness, while those people who suppress their emotions, or who have no outlet for their feelings, make a poor recovery.
Loss of hope, the traumatic loss of an important relationship through divorce or death, and redundancy often result in despair which can lead to illness.
It can be difficult to make the decision to see a counselor, but talking through your problems with someone who is uninvolved with them, and who is in no way judgmental, can be enormously helpful.
This is not to say that a happy positive disposition will necessarily cure your asthma or allergies, but the mind and body are linked and you can stimulate your own self healing process.
There is evidence that stress and your mood can have an impact on your airways and some scientists have identified people who are at particular risk from asthma.
Denial, repressed hostility and emotional immaturity have been associated with people who have poor control over their asthma.
There are hundreds of counseling techniques to treat psychological suffering or physical conditions that may have psychological roots.
These therapies encourage you to talk openly about your innermost thoughts, fears, anxieties and problems to a trained and experienced listener, who will guide and help you find solutions to whatever is worrying you.
You can be counseled on your own, with a partner or in groups.