Psychiatric depression, anxiety, and coronary heart disease

Recognizing and addressing the psychological needs of cardiac patients is very important for their immediate and long-term outcome. The primary physician must be alert, therefore, to the signs and symptoms of psychological distress, provide appropriate supportive care supplemented with pharmacotherapy as needed, and obtain psychiatric consultation in severe cases. Patients remember what their doctors say, and an empathic, caring physician inspires confidence and adherence to a prescribed treatment program. If patients are to have the best possible medical outcome, they need to have the best possible psychological response to their illness and its treatment.