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Stress and Psychological Factors

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Interdisciplinary Concepts in Cardiovascular Health

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Abstract

This chapter explains how psychosocial factors like stress at work and/or home, depression, and anxiety, as well as personality characteristics contribute to the risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD). Psychosocial factors seem to affect the heart through neuroendocrine (i.e., hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) and behavioral (i.e., sedentary lifestyle) pathways. In clinical practice, guidelines for the assessment of stress and psychological factors should be released. In case of elevated risk, multimodal, cognitive-behavioral intervention should be offered. New technologies (i.e., web applications) should be ­considered for the application of programs aimed at lifestyle change. Furthermore, the development of gender-specific approaches in cognitive-behavioral intervention guidelines should be an important aspect of future research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Psychology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

    Stefan Höfer

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

    Nicole Pfaffenberger

  3. Department of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Fürstenweg 185, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Martin Kopp

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  1. Stefan Höfer
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  2. Nicole Pfaffenberger
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  3. Martin Kopp
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Correspondence to Martin Kopp .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental and Preventi, Hyogo College of Medicine, Hyogo, Japan

    Ichiro Wakabayashi

  2. Institute of Biophysics, Medical University of Graz Center for Physiological Medicine, Graz, Austria

    Klaus Groschner

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Höfer, S., Pfaffenberger, N., Kopp, M. (2013). Stress and Psychological Factors. In: Wakabayashi, I., Groschner, K. (eds) Interdisciplinary Concepts in Cardiovascular Health. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-1334-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-1334-9_10

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