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- $Unique_ID{BRK00826}
- $Pretitle{}
- $Title{Is a Type A Personality a Good Candidate for a Heart Attack?}
- $Subject{circulatory narrowing artery arteries behavior behaviors compulsive
- Type A B counseling hostility anger}
- $Volume{G-23}
- $Log{}
-
- Copyright (c) 1991-92,1993 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
-
-
- Is a Type A Personality a Good Candidate for a Heart Attack?
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-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- QUESTION: I'm a Type A personality--I admit it. In fact, I enjoy the rushing
- and competitiveness. Unfortunately, a friend tells me I'm a good candidate
- for a heart attack. I can't believe this, especially since I feel so good.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- ANSWER: Some 20 years ago, Drs. Mayer Friedman and Ray Rosenman sketched out
- the Type A personality: someone who does many things at once, takes on too
- much work, moves quickly, hates waiting, can't relax, interrupts, angers
- easily and is competitive. Ever since then, cardiology has never been the
- same. This seemingly definitive list has raised as many questions as it
- answered: Why, exactly, would Type A behavior lead to heart attack? Do some
- Type A characteristics count more than others? And most important, is there
- any way a Type A person can reform into a Type B?
- Researchers speculate that it's the high levels of the hormones
- adrenaline, cortisol and testosterone found in young Type A men that
- contribute over time to a narrowing of the coronary arteries, but this still
- is unproven. Another question mark is whether these hormone changes are a
- result of Type A behavior or a cause of it.
- We know more about which Type A characteristics count most heavily. Some
- studies show that hostility and anger are far more reliable predictors of
- heart disease than any other Type A characteristics. This is good news indeed
- for people like you who are competitive, hurried and so forth, without being
- angry. It may well be that Type A behavior has its good and its bad
- components.
- Even Type A's who are angry may not be headed for heart trouble.
- Hostility has been linked with coronary artery disease in younger people only.
- The theory here is that the older hostile Type A's are a hardy bunch who have
- avoided heart disease while the more vulnerable people in their age group
- succumbed to it prematurely.
- Finally, the best news: it is possible to change Type A behavior through
- counseling. Patients learn that hostility and anger are likely to be harmful
- to their hearts and are trained in heading off these negative emotions. Of
- course, if Type A behavior turns out to be the result of hormone imbalances or
- other physical causes, counseling will help only temporarily. Researchers are
- now working to discover whether drugs can control Type A behavior, and a few
- early experiments have hinted that they can.
-
- ----------------
-
- The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace
- the counsel and advice of your personal physician. Promptly consulting your
- doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical
- problem.
-