Some patients experience severe depression following a heart attack.
The development of depression is an independent risk factor for subsequent heart attacks and mortality. While the connection between mortality and depression is unknown, lack of compliance with prescribed treatments may contribute to a patient's demise. An emotionally supportive family and physician can help a heart attack patient regain their strength, improve their health and outlook, and manage their disease. Researchers say yes, after a forty year study of the mental and physical well-being of 1,190 men enrolled in Johns Hopkins Medical School between 1948 and 1964. Twelve percent of the group who reported having at least one bout of clinical depression were more than twice as likely as others to develop heart disease or have a heart attack.