Gloomy personality may up heart risk


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(Health.com) -- Are you pessimistic, chronically worried and stressed-out, and ill at ease socially? You may be at higher risk of heart attack and other heart problems, a new study suggests.

People with a history of heart disease who are prone to negative thinking, gloom, and inhibition -- a personality profile known as Type D (for "distressed") -- are nearly four times more likely to experience heart attack, heart failure, heart rhythm disorders, death, and other negative outcomes compared to heart patients with a different personality profile, the study found.

"There is a clear connection between heart risk and psychological risk factors, and those people who have this personality and lack social support have higher risk of health problems," says Nieca Goldberg, M.D., director of the Women's Heart Program at New York University's Langone Medical Center.

Type D personalities are "characterized by negative emotions like anxiety, frustration, and anger, and at the same time score high on social inhibition, meaning that they are less likely to disclose emotions," Denollet says.

Type D personalities may also turn to smoking, alcohol, overeating, and other unhealthy behaviors as a way of coping with their emotions, Watson adds.

And, as Denollet points out, "Type D's are less likely to exercise, and [are] also rather poor at adhering to medical treatment or advice by their doctors."

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