Another thing to remember is asthma is also known to be a psychosomatic illness - i.e. one that can be induced from psychological / emotional factors.

Several people have provided good info here for you OP. Unfortunately it's not as black and white as you or anyone else would like, it's complex and can be caused by any number of things, and like anything else there are varying different degrees of how bad it is.

I have it 24/7, and was hospitalised with it a lot as a child, and the only thing that prevents it from manifesting is nowadays is good long-term preventative drugs taken on a daily basis. Hopefully they don't have it severe or chronic, and it's shortlived.