Heart and Mind Are Intertwined

Poets know it: The heart and mind are intertwined. Now scientists are catching on.

Poets know it: The heart and mind are intertwined. Now scientists are catching on. What they’re finding out is that your mental health has a lot to do with your heart health. A special issue of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity looks at new research into psychological risks for heart disease. These studies show that your mind affects your immune system, and your immune system affects your heart, notes Willem J. Kop, PhD, of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “[There is] interplay between psychological factors and immunological processes at various stages of coronary artery disease,” Kop writes in an introduction to the special issue. Different categories of mental health affect different stages of heart disease. Kop points to three psychological risk factors: Acute, episodic, and chronic. Anger, Mental Stress, and Sudden Death A surge of strong feeling seems to come from the heart. That impression may not be too far off. “Acute anger is associated with a greater than twofold risk of [heart attack],” Kop notes. “Mental stress causes [obstruction of the arteries] in 30% to 60% of patients with coronary artery disease.” People with clogged arteries are particularly susceptible. Mental arousal triggers immune responses that can activate or even burst plaque deposits. Exactly how this happens isn’t clear but is the subject of intense research. Depression, Exhaustion, and Heart Disease Mental health problems that come and go over and over again take their toll on the heart. One of these is major depression. Depression is linked to a cascade of different chemical signals that affect the immune system. These signals, Kop notes, contribute to the long-term development of heart disease. Over time, these signals change stable heart disease to unstable heart disease. Interestingly, different types of depression may have different effects on the heart. A Heart-Disease Personality Type? Ongoing psychological factors may play a role at the very earliest stages of heart disease. “Stable characteristics, such as hostile personality, Type A behavior pattern, and low socioeconomic status, are associated with elevated long-term risk of first [heart attack],” Kop notes. Hostile personality, he writes, has been linked to impaired immune function. These chronic mental problems don’t just act by themselves. They also affect the body’s response to recurring mental factors such as depression and acute factors such as anger. Most of these mental effects have only small effects on heart disease. But they add up over time, Kop says — especially when accompanied by other factors such as obesity. He says he hopes that a better understanding of the interplay between mental health and heart health will lead to earlier recognition — and earlier treatment — of at-risk patients. SOURCE: Kop, W. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2003; vol 17: pp 233-237.