0000000001141796
AUTHOR
N. Renda
Panic disorder, anxiety, and cardiovascular diseases
Different data indicate that psychological and/or emotional disorders may play an important role in the natural history of heart diseases. Although the major evidence is that related to depression, epidemiological data would indicate that anxiety and panic disorders are highly represented in cardiac patient, thus influencing mortality and morbidity. The diagnosis of panic disorder in patients with chest pain is crucial to a correct therapeutic approach, as well as to reduce the risks and costs of inappropriate treatments. Anxiety and panic may accelerate different direct and indirect processes involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases: lifestyle risk factors, arterial hyperten…
Personality and Defence Mechanisms in Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy
IntroductionTakotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) is an acute cardiologic syndrome, characterized by specific symptoms and ECG, echocardiographic and enzymatic abnormalities, similar to an acute myocardial infarction, with no hemodynamically significant stenosis at coronary-ventriculography.ObjectiveTo assess personality in TC patients in order to find common psychopathological elements.MethodsA series of consecutive patients suffering from TC hospitalized at the Cardiology Unit of “Ingrassia” Hospital in Palermo in 2013–2014, were included in the study. We used Structured Clinical Interview for Axis I and II, according to DSM-IV TR criteria. Further, the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI), used in…