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The Causal Role of Chronic Mental Stress in the Pathogenesis of Essential Hypertension

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Stress and Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

The idea that essential hypertension may arise through psychosomatic mechanisms is an old one. Even before the standard methods of indirect blood pressure measurement were available, Geisbock (in 1905) wrote, concerning his male patients with polycythemia and hypertension (systolic pressure having been measured with a ­finger plethysmograph): “one finds an unusual frequency of those who as directors of big enterprises had a great deal of responsibility and demanding jobs, and who, after a long period of mental overwork, became nervous.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hypertension Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Division, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Murray Esler

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  1. Murray Esler
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Correspondence to Murray Esler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Karolinska Hospital, Dept. Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, 171 76, Sweden

    Paul Hjemdahl

  2. St Georges Hospital Medical School, Dept. Psychology, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE, United Kingdom

    Andrew Steptoe

  3. Sahlgrenska University Hospital/Östra, Göteborg, SE-416 85, Sweden

    Annika Rosengren

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Esler, M. (2011). The Causal Role of Chronic Mental Stress in the Pathogenesis of Essential Hypertension. In: Hjemdahl, P., Steptoe, A., Rosengren, A. (eds) Stress and Cardiovascular Disease. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-419-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-419-5_15

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