The Impact of Psychological Functioning on Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Purpose of review: We report on recent findings pertaining to the relationship of both negative and positive indicators of psychological functioning with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and briefly describe possible mechanistic pathways to account for these relationships.

Recent findings: A body of observational literature suggests that (1) depression is predictive of CVD and is a consequence of CVD; (2) anxiety is related to CVD but the precise nature of this relationship remains unclear; and (3) negative affectivity and Type D personality are constructs that combine aspects of negative psychological functioning that have shown relationships with CVD and are worthy of future investigation. Positive psychological constructs of meaning/purpose and optimism predict better cardiovascular outcomes and other positive psychological constructs have received promising, but limited, attention in the literature. Key remaining questions concern the magnitude and directionality of possible causal relationships as well as the mechanisms accounting for them.

Keywords: Anxiety; Cardiovascular disease; Depression; Meaning in life; Optimism; Purpose in life.