Psychological etiology in cardiovascular disorders. Basic findings and new trends

Five theories advocate the existence of psychogenic factors in the etiology of cardiovascular diseases. The first of these theories involves a behavioral pattern. Pattern A is predictive of cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors. The second of these theories implies three personality patterns: IRA (Impulsiveness, Repression, Aggressiveness), HHD (Hypochondriasis, Hysteria, Depression) and SAD (Stress, Anxiety, Depression). IRA discriminates significantly people with cardiovascular diseases from healthy subjects. IRA-like patterns account for some 60% of the variance. HHD discriminates to some degree people who show thrombopenia as a reaction to stress. Cardiovascular patients stereotype their defenses and seem to cluster in two subamples: 66% of them repress their aggressiveness and 34% use opposite defense mechanisms. SAD is a reliable predictor; stressful events constitute a risk factor, mainly in anxious or depressed and hostile subjects.