Heart to heart

Gives new research findings about how heart heals the heart. Spousal support affect on women heart attack victims; How a heart attack may affect a man's sole definition of self; How patients who feel a sense of self efficacy and control over their disease do better than those who don't; Stanford University's study findings on behavioral counseling after a heart attack.

By PT Staff, published on November 01, 1994

There is a flurry of new research findings about how heart heals the heart:

o A heart patient overly dependent on a spouse may have a harder time making necessary life-style changes in diet and exercise.

o For women heart attack victims, spousal support is critical--but hard to come by. "The family sometimes feels abandoned," explains Martin Sullivan, "and they don't want the woman to take time out of her duties as a wife and mother to make important life-style changes. Women are more willing to change for men."

o For men, a heart attack may shatter the sole definition of self (as family provider). The introduction of larger concepts of the self is therapeutic.

o Patients who feel a sense of self-efficacy and control over their disease do better than those who don't.

o Depression and anxiety affect pain perception and the capacity to function in the face of medical symptoms.

o In a study at Stanford University, behavioral counseling after heart attack, especially for hard-driving Type A individuals, lowered the rate of recurrent heart attacks by 45%--the same as the most powerful prescription drugs.

Such findings have led Martin Sullivan to introduce innovative techniques at the Duke Center. These include a program known as PAIRS (Practical Application of Intimacy Relationship Skills), which teaches couples healthy interactive skills, and a meditation program that teaches patients to freeze frame a moment in time and look at the emotional content of what they are experiencing. Says Sullivan of the Duke Center's work, "We're trying to take the best of everything."

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