Cardiac Psychology

Cardiac Psychology is a specialty that focuses on helping people recover emotionally from heart disease, cope with the experience and make the adjustments necessary when living with that illness.

Research indicates that as many as 20 % of heart attack patients that seem stable through the hospital experience, develop emotional problems about four months after it ends (Sotile & Canter-Cooke 2003).

Common symptoms:

  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • PTSD
  • Anger
  • Grief
  • Cognitive difficulties
  • Adjustment issues

Cardiac Psychology is a specialty that focuses on helping people recover emotionally from heart disease, cope with the experience and make the adjustments necessary when living with that illness.

  • Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy
  • Behavioral approaches, such as biofeedback

Providing information, resources and interventions for patients living with heart disease will be an important step in recovering health and improving quality of life.