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 .
Brief Group Therapy in Myocardial Infarction Rehabilitation: Three‐ to Four‐Year Follow‐Up of a Controlled Trial*
& NA ; A trial of brief group therapy as part of a rehabilitation program for postmyocardial infa rct ion ( MI ) patients was carried out . Forty‐four patients surviving their first MI were r and omly allocated to either group therapy or control group status and were followed over 4 years . An additional group of 17 patients were referred for post‐MI group therapy sessions after the termination of the controlled experiment and were followed for 3 years . Patients who received group therapy had significantly less follow‐up coronary morbidity and mortality , and returned to work at significant higher percentages than control patients . Although neither group therapy nor control group patients meaningfully altered conventional coronary risk factors , group therapy patients ( in the controlled trial ) successfully altered selected coronary‐prone behaviors . Educational information regarding the physiological and psychological aspects of coronary heart disease , presented in the group therapy sessions , was forgotten over follow‐up . It is concluded that the supportive aspects of the group therapy experience played the most important role in determining the rehabilitation advantages seen for treatment 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 .