TY - JOUR T1 - PSychophysiological approach to management of patients with congestive heart failure AU - Vernon CR, Martin DA, White KL Y1 - 1959/12/05 N1 - 10.1001/jama.1959.03010320037009 JO - Journal of the American Medical Association SP - 1947 EP - 1954 VL - 171 IS - 14 N2 - To facilitate an appreciation of the psychosomatic implications of congestive heart failure, the emotional problems of 30 patients being treated for cardiac decompensation were defined. Emotional difficulties of a chronic nature were found to be an integral part of daily living in 26. Cardiac decompensation because the patient fails to take digitalis which failure, in turn, is the result of his emotional problem is an example of indirect relationship between the mental and organic maladies. This was present in 14 patients. In 19 an acute emotional stress such as the death of a beloved relative had a more direct influence, through as yet only partially understood neurohumoral mechanisms, in prolonging or precipitating an episode of congestive failure. The practical implication of these psychosomatic relationships is indicated by the known facts that heart function, venous pressure, and arterial pressure are all affected by emotional stress or by hormones released at the time of stress. SN - 0002-9955 M3 - doi: 10.1001/jama.1959.03010320037009 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1959.03010320037009 ER -