The role of angry rumination and distraction in blood pressure recovery from emotional arousal.
OBJECTIVE
Cardiovascular recovery of prestress baseline blood pressure has been implicated as a possible additional determinant of sustained blood pressure elevation. We hypothesize that angry ruminations may slow the recovery process.


METHODS
A within-subjects design was used in which resting baseline blood pressure and heart rate measurements were assessed on 60 subjects, who then took part in two anger-recall tasks. After each task, subjects sat quietly and alone during a 12-minute recovery period randomized to with or without distractions. During baseline, task, and recovery, blood pressure was continuously monitored; during recovery, subjects reported their thoughts at five fixed intervals.


RESULTS
Fewer angry thoughts were reported in the distraction condition (17%) compared with no distraction (31%; p = .002); an interaction showed that this effect was largely the result of the two intervals immediately after the anger-recall task. Trait rumination interacted with distraction condition such that high ruminators in the no-distraction condition evidenced the poorest blood pressure recovery, assessed as area under the curve (p = .044 [systolic blood pressure] and p = .046 [diastolic pressure]).


CONCLUSIONS
People who have a tendency to ruminate about past anger-provoking events may be at greater risk for target organ damage as a result of sustained blood pressure elevations; the effect is exacerbated when distractions are not available to interrupt the ruminative process.
Gerin
William
W
Columbia University/NY-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA. wg131@columbia.edu
Davidson
Karina W
KW
Christenfeld
Nicholas J S
NJ
Goyal
Tanya
T
Schwartz
Joseph E
JE
D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*