Having outlined the type of conflict situation which initiates symptoms in asthma and pulmonary tuberculosis, the author analyses the situation in respect of 86 cases of each of the two illnesses in terms of conflict type and sex of the patient. Men fall ill significantly more often as a result of conflicts in the area of ‘occupation and profession’, women in the area of ‘love, sex and reproduction’ (p < 0.001). Tuberculous patients, in turn, are significantly more often affected by certain ‘love’ conflicts than asthmatics (p < 0.001–0.009), and asthmatics by deaths (p < 0.005). In both cases, this is more pronounced in women. In the discussion, attention is drawn to the significance of these results for diagnosis and psychotherapy.