Psychiatric aspects of cardiovascular disease

Psychiatric aspects of cardiovascular disease include both the effects of emotion and mental disorders on the heart and the psychiatric complications of cardiac disease. Anxiety, anger-hostility, depression, and the Type A behavior pattern, as well as acute psychological stressors, have clear effects on the development and progression of coronary heart disease. Management of depression and anxiety, the most prominent psychiatric problems, requires an understanding of both medical and psychological factors. New treatments for end-stage cardiac disease and their specific psychological consequences are discussed.