Some patients with asthma cope with their disease in ways that are deleterious to them. The coping styles used by these patients often were used by them before the onset of the asthma, but the asthma amplifies these styles, and the coping styles can amplify the asthma. There are striking similarities between these coping styles and those described in cancer victims. Like the latter, they may reflect denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. Recognition that patients are using these coping styles and appropriate intervention will prevent them from continuing to act in these self-destructive manners. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 1999;103:29-35.)