Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T19:32:59.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Mental Precursors of Myocardial Infarction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

A. Appels*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Psychology, University of Limburg, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

Abstract

Both cardiologists and psychiatrists have observed that the onset of myocardial infarction is often preceded by feelings of decreasing energy, general malaise, and minor depression. This paper describes these observations and tries to integrate the findings. It is proposed that the mental state preceding myocardial infarction can be best described as ‘vital exhaustion’.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alonzo, A., Simon, A. & Feinleib, M. (1975) Prodromata of myocardial infarction and sudden death. Circulation, 52, 10561062.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Appels, A. & Mulder, P. (1988) Excess fatigue as a precursor of myocardial infarction. European Heart Journal, 9, 758764.Google Scholar
Arlow, J. (1945) Identification mechanisms in coronary occlusion. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 7, 195209.Google Scholar
Billing, E., Lindell, B., Sederholm, M., et al (1980) Denial anxiety and depression following myocardial infarction. Psychosomatics, 21, 639645.Google Scholar
Bonami, M. & Rime, B. (1972) Approch exploratoire de la personalité pre-coronarienne par analyse standardisée de données projectives thematiques. Journal Psychosomatic Research, 16, 103113.Google Scholar
Brozek, J., Keys, A. & Blackburn, H. (1966) Personality differences between potential coronary and non-coronary subjects. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 134, 10571064.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruhn, J. G., McCrady, K. & Plesis, A. (1968) Evidence of “emotional drain” preceding death from myocardial infarction. Psychiatry Digest, 29, 3440.Google Scholar
Byrne, D. G. (1980) Attributed responsibility for life events in survivors of myocardial infarction. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 33, 713.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crisp, A., Queen, M. & D'Souza, M. F. (1984) Myocardial infarction and the emotional climate. Lancet, i, 616619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falger, P. (1989) Life span development and myocardial infarction: an epidemiologic study. PhD dissertation, University of Limburg, Maastricht.Google Scholar
Feinleib, M., Simon, A., Gillum, R., et al (1975) Prodromal symptoms and signs of sudden death. Circulation, 52 (suppl. III), 155159.Google Scholar
Fischer, H. K., Dlin, B., Winters, W. L., et al (1964) Emotional factors in coronary occlusion II: time patterns and factors related to onset. Psychosomatics, 5, 280291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fraser, G. E. (1978) Sudden death in Auckland. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Medicine, 8, 490499.Google Scholar
Freeman, L. & Nixon, P. (1987) Time to rethink the clinical syndrome of angina pectoris? Implications for ambulatory ST monitory. Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 62, 2532.Google Scholar
Friedman, M., Powell, L. & Thoresen, C. (1987) Effects of discontinuance of type A behavior counseling on type A behavior and cardiac recurrence rate of post myocardial infarction patients. American Heart Journal, 114, 483490.Google Scholar
Glass, D. C. (1972) Behaviour Patterns, Stress and Coronary Heart Disease. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Greene, W. A., Goldstein, S. & Moss, A. (1972) Psychosocial aspects of sudden death. Archives of Internal Medicine, 129, 725731.Google Scholar
Hackett, Th. (1985) Depression following myocardial infarction. Psychosomatics, 26, 2330.Google Scholar
Hahn, P. (1971) Der Herzinfarkt in Psychosomatischer Sicht. Göttingen: Verlag für medizinische Psychologie im Verlag Van den Hoeck und Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Haines, A. P., Imeson, J. D. & Meade, T. (1987) Phobic anxiety and ischaemic heart disease. British Medical Journal, 295, 297299.Google Scholar
Haynes, S. & Feinleib, M. (1982) Type A behavior and the incidence of coronary heart disease in the Framingham Heart Study. Advances in Cardiology, 29, 8595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kemple, C. (1945) Rorschach method and psychosomatic diagnosis. Psychosomatic Medicine, 7, 8589.Google Scholar
Klaeboe, G., Otterstad, J. E., Winsness, T., et al (1987) Predictive value of prodromal symptoms in myocardial infarction. Acta Medica Scandinavica, 222, 2730.Google Scholar
Klatsky, A., Friedman, G. & Siegelaub, A. (1976) Medical history questions predictive of myocardial infarction. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 29, 683696.Google Scholar
Kuller, L. (1978) Prodromata of sudden death and myocardial infarction. Advances in Cardiology, 25, 6172.Google Scholar
Lebowitz, B., Shekelle, R. & Ostfeld, A. (1967) Prospective and retrospective psychological studies of coronary heart disease. Psychosomatic Medicine, 29, 265272.Google Scholar
Lloyd, G. & Cawley, R. (1983) Distress or illness? A study of psychological symptoms after myocardial infarction. British Journal Psychiatry, 142, 120125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matthews, K., Glass, D. C., Rosenman, R. H., et al (1977) Competitive drive, pattern A and coronary heart disease: a further analysis of some data of the Western Collaborative Group Study. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 230, 489498.Google Scholar
Matthews, K., & Haynes, S. (1986) Type A behavior pattern and coronary disease risk. American Journal of Epidemiology, 123, 923960.Google Scholar
Matthews, K., Weiss, S., Detres, Th., et al (1986) Handbook of Stress, Reactivity and Cardiovascular Disease. New York: J. Wiley.Google Scholar
Murphy, E., Smith, R., Lindesay, J., et al (1988) Increased mortality rates in late-life depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 347353.Google Scholar
Paffenbarger, R., Notkin, D. & Krueger, P. (1966) Chronic disease in former college students I: early precursors of fatal coronary heart disease. American Journal Epidemiology, 83, 314328.Google Scholar
Polzien, P. & Walter, J. (1971) Das pseudoneurasthenische Syndrom in Frühstadium der Koronarsklerose. Münchener Medizinischen Wochenschrift, 44, 14531456.Google Scholar
Ragland, D. & Brand, R. (1988) Type A behavior and mortality from coronary heart disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 318, 6569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rissanen, V., Romo, M. & Sittanen, P. (1978) Premonitory symptoms and stress-factors preceding sudden death from ischaemic heart disease. Acta Medica Scandinavica, 20, 389396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romo, M. (1973) Factors related to sudden death in acute ischaemic heart disease. A community study in Helsinki. Acta Medica Scandinavica, Suppl. 547, 592.Google Scholar
Rosenman, R. H., Brand, R., Scholtz, R., et al (1976) Multivariate prediction of coronary heart disease during 8.5 years follow up in the collaborative group study. American Journal of Cardiology, 37, 903910.Google Scholar
Shekelle, R. B. & Ostfield, A. M. (1965) Psychometric evaluations in cardiovascular epidemiology. Annals of the New York Acadamy of Sciences, 126, 696705.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shekelle, R. B., Gale, M., Ostfeld, A., et al (1983) Hostility, risk of coronary heart disease and mortality. Psychosomatic Medicine, 45, 109144.Google Scholar
Shekelle, R. B. Hulley, S., Neaton, J., et al (1985) The MRFIT behavior pattern study II: type A behavior and incidence of coronary heart disease. American Journal of Epidemiology, 122, 559570.Google Scholar
Siegrist, J. (1987) Sleep disturbances and cardiovascular risk. In Sleep Related Disorders and internal diseases (ed. Peter, J., Podszus, T. & von Wichert, P.), pp. 173182. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Stowers, M. & Short, D. (1970) Warning symptoms before myocardial infarction. British Heart Journal, 32, 833838.Google Scholar
Talbot, E., Kuller, L., Ditre, K., et al (1977) Biologic and psychosocial risk factors of sudden death for coronary heart disease in white women. American Journal of Cardiology, 39, 858864.Google Scholar
Thompson, S. (1984) Predicting myocardial infarction. Lancet, i, 10211022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thoresen, C., Friedman, M., Powell, L., et al (1985) Altering the type behavior pattern in postinfarction patients. Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, 5, 258266.Google Scholar
Van Doornen, L. (1988) Physiological stress reactivity. PhD dissertation, University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.