title: The role of angry rumination and distraction in blood pressure recovery from emotional arousal.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University/NY-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA. wg131@columbia.edu
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gerin
authors.forename: Karina W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Nicholas J S
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Christenfeld
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goyal
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: 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*