Children, adolescents, and adults have all been reported to have habit cough or “psychogenic” cough. Many youngsters with a persistent cough are misdiagnosed and treated for asthma. Anxiety problems or conversion disorder are common in children with habit cough.
A thorough strategy should be devised if habit cough is linked to school avoidance, school difficulty, or other emotional or behavioral issues.
Psychogenic Coughs
Coughs that aren’t caused by anything bodily are known as “psychogenic coughs.” Coughing can irritate the throat, therefore it can become a self-reinforcing behavior.
Acute Bronchitis, Whooping Cough, or Delayed Toughing?
There are children who cough constantly and no organic reason can be found. Sometimes such psychogenic coughing is delayed after prolonged bronchitis or whooping cough. This can happen to children who have experienced that they can derive some benefit from their illness, such as increased indulgence, generosity, or prudence of their educators.
Then, unconsciously, the symptom of the disease that is most conspicuous is fixed in behavior, although the disease itself has long since disappeared. In this way, the neurotic child actually wants to warn the environment that he is still ill and that the educators are obliged to continue with the treatment they used during his illness.
Psychogenic Cough as an Expression of a Life Situation That the Child Does Not Tolerate
Sometimes psychogenic cough appears as an expression of the emotional shock that the child experiences, or as an unconscious protest against a new life situation that he does not tolerate, for example, in children who feel neglected, who have become jealous or considered overburdened, or with them acts in an unjust manner.
