Conclusions We found that psychological intervention  improved psychological symptoms and reduced cardiac mortality for people with CHD .
However , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of these effects and the specific techniques most likely to benefit people with different presentations of CHD
Background Although psychological interventions are recommended for the management of coronary heart disease ( CHD ) , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding their effectiveness .
Alteration of type A behavior and its effect on cardiac recurrences in post myocardial infarction patients: summary results of the recurrent coronary prevention project.
One thous and thirteen post myocardial infa rct ion patients were observed for 4.5 years to determine whether their type A ( coronary-prone ) behavior could be altered and the effect such alteration might have on the subsequent cardiac morbidity and mortality rates of these individuals . Eight hundred sixty-two of these individuals were r and omly assigned either to a control section of 270 participants who received group cardiac counseling or an experimental section of 592 participants who received both group cardiac counseling and type A behavioral counseling . The remaining 151 patients , serving as a " comparison group , " did not receive group counseling of any kind . Using the " Intention-to-Treat " principle , we observed markedly reduced type A behavior at the end of 4.5 years in 35.1 % of participants given cardiac and type A behavior counseling compared with 9.8 % of participants given only cardiac counseling . The cumulative 4.5-year cardiac recurrence rate was 12.9 % in the 592 participants in the experimental group that received type A counseling . This recurrence rate was significantly less ( p less than 0.005 ) than either the recurrence rate ( 21.2 % ) observed in the 270 participants in the control group or the recurrence rate ( 28.2 % ) in those of the comparison group not receiving any special treatment . After the first year , a significant difference in number of cardiac deaths between the experimental and control participants was observed during the remaining 3.5 years of the study . Overall , the results of this study demonstrate for the first time , within a controlled experimental design , that altering type A behavior reduces cardiac morbidity and mortality in post infa rct ion patients
Conclusions We found that psychological intervention  improved psychological symptoms and reduced cardiac mortality for people with CHD .
However , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of these effects and the specific techniques most likely to benefit people with different presentations of CHD
Background Although psychological interventions are recommended for the management of coronary heart disease ( CHD ) , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding their effectiveness .