Psychological aspects of myocardial infarction and coronary care
The book is designed to serve as a comprehensive yet concise summary of available knowledge that is useful in understanding the psychological aspects of myocardial infarction and coronary care. It is meant to be a practical and usable text, one that can be referred to by professionals throughout their treatment of patients who have experienced a myocardial infarct. The large number of references to basic research studies demonstrates the scientific basis of the clinical case material. The clinical examples provide the reader with a point of reference for specific patient concerns that he or she may have. Finally, the book is divided into sections that deal separately with the psychological aspects of etiology, onset, acute care, rehabilitation, and psychological intervention; this enables the reader to selectively gain information and insight into the psychology pertinent to specific points along the illness recovery continuum or in one particular clinical setting (for example, the coronary care unit) without necessarily reading the entire book. However, reading the book in its entirety offers a better understanding of the complex network of functional relationships among the various behaviors of the patient with an acute myocardial infarction from symptom onset through rehabilitation and of the changing role of care givers throughout the illness recovery sequence.