Psychological etiology in cardiovascular disorders. Basic findings and new trends.
Five theories advocate the existence of psychogenic factors in the etiology of cardiovascular diseases. The first of these theories involves a behavioral pattern. Pattern A is predictive of cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors. The second of these theories implies three personality patterns: IRA (Impulsiveness, Repression, Aggressiveness), HHD (Hypochondriasis, Hysteria, Depression) and SAD (Stress, Anxiety, Depression). IRA discriminates significantly people with cardiovascular diseases from healthy subjects. IRA-like patterns account for some 60% of the variance. HHD discriminates to some degree people who show thrombopenia as a reaction to stress. Cardiovascular patients stereotype their defenses and seem to cluster in two subamples: 66% of them repress their aggressiveness and 34% use opposite defense mechanisms. SAD is a reliable predictor; stressful events constitute a risk factor, mainly in anxious or depressed and hostile subjects.
D000374:Aggression; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000150:complications; D007046:Hysteria / Q000150:complications; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D008950:MMPI; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires