Dimensions of Anger and Hostility in Cardiac Patients, Hypertensive Patients, and Controls

Bitti, Pio Enrico Ricci; Gremigni, Paola; Bertolotti, Giorgio; Zotti, Anna Maria

doi:10.1159/000289007

Cited by 18 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…These findings also confirm the results of studies which show that both social support and external locus of control have a key role in reducing psychological stress and in favoring adaptive mechanisms to somatic illness, irrespective of its type (e.g. cardiovascular disorders, cancer or HIV infection) [51, 52, 53, 54]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Emotional Stress, Psychosocial Variables and Coping Associated with Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infections in Intravenous Drug Users

Grassi

Satriano²,

Serra³

et al. 2002

Psychother Psychosom

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Background: The increasing health problem of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has only recently attracted the attention of psychosocial research, especially among subjects at higher risk (e.g. intravenous drug users; IDUs). The aim of the present study was to compare emotional stress symptoms, psychosocial variables (i.e. social support, external locus of control and emotional repression) and coping strategies in HCV-seropositive, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive and HCV/HIV-noninfected IDUs. Methods: IDUs followed by the Infectious Diseases Outpatient clinic were enrolled in the study over a period of 1 year. HCV-positive (n = 62) and HIV-positive (n = 76) IDUs and HCV/HIV-seronegative IDUs (n = 152) completed the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Social Provision Scale, the Locus of Control scale and the affective inhibition scale of the Illness Behavior Questionnaire. Coping with illness among HCV-positive and HIV-positive subjects was assessed through a modified version of the Mental Adjustment to Cancer Scale. Results: No significant differences were found between the samples with respect to individual and interpersonal variables. HCV-positive subjects showed higher scores on several psychological stress dimensions (i.e. obsessive-compulsive, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism) and lower scores on fighting spirit, hopelessness and anxious preoccupation towards illness than HIV-positive patients. HCV-positive and HCV/HIV-seronegative IDUs reported comparable scores on most of the psychological measures. Conclusions: The findings indicate that routine assessment of psychosocial variables and coping mechanisms should be integrated into all HCV and HIV services, especially those dedicated to treatment of patients with substance abuse, as a vulnerable segment of the population at risk for life-threatening physical illness such as HCV and HIV infections.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Emotional Stress, Psychosocial Variables and Coping Associated with Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infections in Intravenous Drug Users

Grassi

Satriano²,

Serra³

et al. 2002

Psychother Psychosom

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“…In parallel, psychosocial factors including hostility have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. It has been proposed that hostility affects the cardiovascular system through stress-induced cardiovascular and neuro-endocrine hyperreactivity and health risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol use and fat intake [4][5][6] . Hostile individuals may also be at risk because they experience a variety of psychosocial adversities, such as a low level of social support and a high level of interpersonal confl icts [4,7] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between Hostility and Plasma Total Homocysteine Concentrations in a General Population Sample

et al. 2006

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Objective: The present study focuses on testing the association of hostility with plasma homocysteine levels in a general population sample. Method: Four hundred and ten healthy adults (200 men and 210 women), participating in a health survey in Greece, had blood samples taken for homocysteine concentrations and also completed a multidimensional hostility questionnaire, assessing direction of hostility (‘extra- and intropunitive’) as well as total hostility and its ingredients, i.e. urge to act out hostility, criticism of others, delusional hostility, self-criticism and delusional guilt. Multivariate relationship was tested between hostility components and homocysteine, after statistically controlling for potential confounders such as age, gender, educational status, smoking and body mass index. Results: Total hostility, delusional guilt as well as extrapunitive direction of hostility were positively related to homocysteine levels. Self-criticism was negatively related to homocysteine. Conclusion: The study provides further evidence that particular dimensions of hostility are associated with increased plasma homocysteine levels, thus deserving a place within the spectrum of the coronary heart disease risk factors.

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“…Interaction of mediating factors is also viewed: Glass [8] extended the hypothesis developed by Friedman and Rosenman [7] suggesting that persons prone to Type A behavior pattern are likely to react with extreme helplessness if they fail to achieve control of a stressful event. Along with anger and hostility, which are emotional reactions suggested to be associated with coronary disease onset [9], helplessness is another reaction suspected to have a negative impact as well. Timing and cumulative effect of stressful life events are also considered as crucial variables.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Personal Stressful Events in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

Tsouna-Hadjis¹,

Mitsibounas²,

Kallergis³

et al. 1998

Psychother Psychosom

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Background: Life events specific for each individual may influence the onset of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and we wondered whether recall of such events elicits autonomic nervous system responses in patients. Methods: Thirty-one subjects with AMI, which occurred about 1 month previously (study group), and 22 healthy subjects were interviewed. Whenever the presence of a stressful event was found within the last 2 months before AMI onset, a key phrase of the event was isolated. Each subject was faced with 20 written key sentences (including his/her own sentence if detected) at random order, for 40 s each. At the same time the heart rate (HR) and the galvanic skin response (GSR) were continuously recorded. Pearson r correlations, χ² and t tests were employed for comparisons between study and control group as well as within each group. Results: A recent exacerbating event was detected in 30/31 AMI patients and in 0/22 healthy subjects. For the 30 AMI patients the values of HR following the sentence of the suspected event, specific for each patient, were statistically significantly higher than the mean values of HR following the remaining 19 ‘neutral’ statements. The same significant difference appeared with regard to GSR values. The mean values of the AMI patients for the 19 neutral statements did not differ significantly from those of the healthy subjects for the 20 neutral statements, either for HR or GSR. Conclusions: Findings suggest that recall of personal stressful events elicited autonomic nervous system responses in AMI patients and, therefore, events with personal significance are related to coronary disease onset.

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Dimensions of Anger and Hostility in Cardiac Patients, Hypertensive Patients, and Controls

Cited by 18 publications

References 29 publications

Emotional Stress, Psychosocial Variables and Coping Associated with Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infections in Intravenous Drug Users

Emotional Stress, Psychosocial Variables and Coping Associated with Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infections in Intravenous Drug Users

Association between Hostility and Plasma Total Homocysteine Concentrations in a General Population Sample

Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Personal Stressful Events in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

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