Treating the Aching Heart: A Guide to Depression, Stress, and Heart Disease - Softcover

Wulsin MD, Lawson R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826515614 ISBN 13: 9780826515612

Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press, 2007

Synopsis

Why is depression bad for heart disease? And how does heart disease contribute to depression? And why is treatment for depressed people with heart disease so often inadequate? Through personal vignettes, accessible scientific explanations, and medical illustrations, Treating the Aching Heart traces the vicious cycle of depression and heart disease and points the way to better care based on cutting-edge science. The book presents a new view of depression as a broad-reaching illness with a distinct neurobiology that influences the most up-to-date model of heart disease. Treating the Aching Heart provides a window into the most studied mind-body problem, the interaction between the brain and the heart. Though many mysteries remain, in no other area is the relationship between a mental disorder and a physical disorder better understood than in the study of depression and heart disease. Anyone who has suffered from depression (about one in four U.S. adults) or some form of heart disease (also about one in four), or has a close family member with either problem, will find this book a useful guide to treatment.

About this title

About the Author

Lawson R. Wulsin, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Cincinnati, husband of a public health physician, and father of four sons, balances his work among patient care, teaching, research on psychosomatic medicine, and directing a residency training program in psychiatry and family medicine. He writes a weekly column, "Mind Matters," for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Reviews

Wulsin, a professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Cincinnati, offers a welcome addition to the literature on the mutual impact of body and mind in this look at how depression contributes to heart disease and vice versa. Written in an informal tone and balancing scientific data with patient checklists and case studies, this book is meant for patients and doctors alike. He tells, for instance, of Bea Hook, a middle-aged woman he was treating only for depression until he realized she had serious risk factors for heart disease that could be exacerbated by her depression. But the author cushions such information with helpful Clinical Tips for the average reader: for example, Learn how depression affects your risks for heart disease; Chart the course of your depression over your lifetime; Insist on comprehensive treatment of heart disease. Wulsin discusses possible single and combination treatments, which include medication, psychotherapy, light therapy and pets. Wulsin has effectively melded science with a popular approach to drive home the need for improved awareness and improved care for heart disease and depression and similarly connected diseases.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826515614
• ISBN 13: 9780826515612
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256