A new study, co-authored by Jamie Jackson, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University, suggests that women with congestive heart failure who repress their emotions (esp. anger) are more likely to experience symptoms of depression.
About.com reported that when researchers, who studied 35 women, factored in how much women knew about their illness, they found that the women who repressed their anger were more likely to feel depressed than those who were open to talking about their feelings.
Jackson explains, “I think the reason we’re seeing this pattern is that if you’re scared about your health condition, and you’re confronted with more and more information, that makes it more real to you. If you’re somebody who doesn’t like to acknowledge the emotion around the situation, it may result in reacting with greater negative emotion.”
The researchers note that this information could help physicians to find ways to educate patients about their illness that would be more compatible with their coping styles.
What is congenitive heart failure? I have heard of congenital and congestive.
Sorry Linda, that was a typo. It should have been congestive. Thanks for bringing it our attention.