Some Psychological Features of Cardiac Arrhythmia

Abstract

In Andrew Steptoe’s innovative discussion of Psychological Factors in Cardiovascular Disease (1), the role of an individual’s emotional status cannot be ignored. Studies to date have been at one time encouraging and at another, discouraging (2). Whether these emotional factors operate acutely or chronically in various manifestations of heart disease is not always clear. In any case, it is currently impossible to put aside the importance of the psychological variable in the high mortality rates of cardiovascular disease particularly sudden death (3).