Type D personality and heart attacks

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/5/99 9:52:36 AM Pacific Daylight Time,

massage writes:

 

<< Type D personality creeps onto the heart attack on-ramp >>

 

Well, I am the daughter of one of the study animals used to identify Type A

(my father is a reformed Type A), and it sounds like I am a Type D. Uh Oh.

 

K

[Guest guest]

Type D personality creeps onto the heart attack on-ramp

 

 

By Jerome Burne SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

 

September 4, 1999

 

 

Remember the Type A personality? The striving ambitious go-getters

who were hounding themselves toward a heart attack and an early grave?

 

Well, they're dead, but it's not work that's done them in.

 

They've been killed off by the inconvenient fact that many high

achievers remain perfectly healthy as they elbow past the rest of us

on their way to the top. In fact, they often flourish.

 

The latest research suggests that a collection of rather less

glamorous personality types are out there courting illness and

premature death. And while Type A hurtled toward intensive care in

the fast lane of life, the latest prime candidates for a bypass can

barely get on the on-ramp.

 

One newly identified heart attack magnet is the Type D personality,

an anxious, gloomy and socially inept worrier: sort of a mixture of

Eeyore and Marvin the paranoid android.

 

The Type D personality was discovered by Professor Johan Denollet, of

Antwerp University.

 

" We gave personality questionnaires to a group of 87 men who had had

a heart attack, " he said. " After 10 years those who scored high on

the traits of social ineptness and anxiety were four times more

likely to have had further attacks. "

 

In other words, personality appeared to make a 400 percent difference

to their chances of survival.

 

Type D arrived on the medical scene to lukewarm approval -- the

professionals say far more research is needed -- but he has already

gained companions. A fellow in misery, who doesn't have a name yet --

Type P for pessimist would perhaps be appropriate -- was announced

this month by Vicki Helgeson of Carnegie Mellon University.

 

She found that heart attack patients who were pessimistic, had a low

opinion of themselves and felt they had no control over their lives,

were three times more likely to suffer a second attack.

 

A rather erratic relative of these two is the ER -- which stands for

" emotional responder. "

 

Dr. James Blumenthal of Duke University Medical Center says that ERs

are highly volatile. When they're up, they're really up, but when

they're down, they plumb the depths.

 

Blumenthal tested over 100 ER heart patients and found their mood

swings reduced blood flow to the heart, which increased their risk of

another attack by four times.

 

Whether these types will stay the course, or go the way of Type A,

remains to be seen. Measuring personality is far from an exact

science.

 

The experts, for instance, are divided as to whether you need three,

five or 16 different dimensions to describe it.

 

Psychologists also disagree about whether traits such as anxiety or

optimism stay basically the same or whether they change depending on

the situation. People may be angry and bullying at home, but quiet

and seething at work when they aren't in charge.

 

What Type D and friends do demonstrate, however, is that there is a

dimension to treating heart attacks -- and probably many other

illnesses -- that modern medicine is ill-equipped to handle.

 

Doctors tend to treat the body as a machine. If you have heart

problems you will be offered pills to regulate various body chemicals

and, if that fails, surgery.

 

A pill that reduced the chances of a second heart attack by 400

percent would have millions of research dollars thrown at it, but

coronary patients are lucky to get a few words of advice on

relaxation and lifestyle.

 

The hope is that these findings about the link between illness and

personality could lead to approaches that are not entirely mechanical.

 

Type Ds, for instance, have a very negative style of thinking and

constantly blame themselves, so instead of filling them up with beta

blockers, why not give them cognitive therapy to help them think more

positively? ERs might respond much better to being taught relaxation

than swallowing a course of tranquilizers.

 

But the real message from Type D and his friends goes much deeper.

This research raises profound questions about the relationship

between our minds and our bodies.

 

Conventional medicine sees it as a one-way street. Our minds are seen

as a kind of froth on top of our brains: if there is a problem with

the mind you treat it by treating the brain. But then how do such

insubstantial things as having low self-esteem or believing you are

in control, have a direct effect on something as robustly physical as

the heart?

 

A few months ago some results came in which may shed some light on

this. Dr. Dominique Musselman, of Emory University in Atlanta,

studied a group of depressed patients, who have much in common with

the Type Ds and Type Ps. Depression is known to be a strong predictor

of heart attacks, increasing your risk four times.

 

Musselman found that depressed people had 41 percent more sticky

platelets in their blood than normal volunteers, making it more

likely that their blood would clot. She then discovered that giving

them Prozac, an anti-depressant, virtually returned the blood to

normal.

 

The big question then became: Was this because the drug was affecting

the blood directly or because just feeling more cheerful make the

patients' blood less sticky?

 

Early results from her current work suggest that if you take an

antidepressant and your mood doesn't change, then neither do your

platelets, but if a placebo makes you feel happier, then your blood

stickiness drops too. That's a powerful indication that your mood can

have a big physical impact on your body.

 

We don't yet know to what extent Ds and Ps and ERs are likely to have

heart problems in the first place. Even so, the research does suggest

that what is going on in patients' heads is at least as important as

chemical levels in their bodies.

 

 

Copyright 1999 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

[Guest guest]

Lee Dronick, HHP wrote:

>

> Type D personality creeps onto the heart attack on-ramp

>

> The latest research suggests that a collection of rather less

> glamorous personality types are out there courting illness and

> premature death. And while Type A hurtled toward intensive care in

> the fast lane of life, the latest prime candidates for a bypass can

> barely get on the on-ramp.

>

> One newly identified heart attack magnet is the Type D personality,

> an anxious, gloomy and socially inept worrier: sort of a mixture of

> Eeyore and Marvin the paranoid android.

>

This would fit with the old " four humour " personality of the

" Melancholic " type. It is interesting to me how although we have

learned that we don't have " four humours " ruling us, the personality

types were pretty right on ;-)

 

A person with this type of personality probably has a solar plexus

dysfunction, much as the type A does; only in this case the solar

plexus is distorted so that instead of overachieving, the person is

poorly functional, or a " loser " in the vernacular. I think it is

important to note that it is not lack of success in and of itself that

makes a person a failure, but their attitude about themselves as a

result of it.

 

Lack of self respect, solar plexus... lack of self love, heart...

these people need to hug themselves more, and give themselves a break.

Not everyone will be a millionaire, and no one is perfect. Hey, if you

can't dance to society's tune, write your own. Perhaps you won't be

fully appreciated for your eccentricities, but it will certainly make

life easier for *you*!

 

--

Blessings,

Crow

" Look for Rainbows in the Darkness "

--

 

PS: Marvin is a Martian, not an android ;-)

[Guest guest]

On 7 Sep 99, at 11:47, Caroline Abreu wrote:

 

Hello!

 

My name is Sherie, and I'm new to this list and to the study of

Body/Mind connections. I've recently finished reading a chronology

of the research that has been done on body/mind connections that

covers everything from the original Type A studies to Hypnoses to

Biofeedback. Having a science-related background I was

particularly interested in the research done by Candance Pert that

deals with the role of endorphins/enkephalins in the mind/body

connection. I've just picked up her book THE MOLECULES OF

EMOTION, and I'm having a great time with it!

 

I also wanted to comment on Caroline's comments below (which I

thought were great) concerning the acceptance of self and our

personality types. Although, not a practising Taoist I am a firm

believer in almost all the concepts espoused by this

religion/philosophy. It is my humble opinion that we must indeed

embrace whatever personality type we are and then find the ways

and means to make ourselves more balanced. I have come to

understand myself and accept my personality type with the help of

the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator, which is heavily based

on Jungian Psychology and developed by Katherine Briggs and

Elizabeth Briggs Myers. Using this forum it is possible to identify

the ways that we as individuals " prefer " to deal with information,

other people and life in general. Once we know how we tend to

react to things, it is often easier for us to identify what needs to be

done to make ourselves more balanced, and to find comfort and

clarity in who we are as unique individuals.

 

Well that's all. I'd love to have any reference on Mind/Body

connections that anyone is willing to pass along.

 

Cheers,

Sherie

 

 

> Lack of self respect, solar plexus... lack of self love, heart...

> these people need to hug themselves more, and give themselves a break.

> Not everyone will be a millionaire, and no one is perfect. Hey, if you

> can't dance to society's tune, write your own. Perhaps you won't be

> fully appreciated for your eccentricities, but it will certainly make

> life easier for *you*!

>

> --

> Blessings,

> Crow

> " Look for Rainbows in the Darkness "

> --

>

> PS: Marvin is a Martian, not an android ;-)

>

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[Guest guest]

At 11:47 AM 9/7/1999 -0400, you wrote:

>Caroline Abreu <crow

>--

>

>PS: Marvin is a Martian, not an android ;-)

>

Not in Douglas Adams' " Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy " books. Marvin is

definitely an android...mournful, nothing good will ever happen kinda fella.

 

 

Chris

[Guest guest]

OH! *That* Marvin..... well, it's been awhile since I've read Douglas

Adams, but it was only last Saturday that I was watching cartoons <G>

There ain't that many Marvins out there!

 

Crow

 

Chris Barrett wrote:

>

> At 11:47 AM 9/7/1999 -0400, you wrote:

> >Caroline Abreu <crow

> >--

> >

> >PS: Marvin is a Martian, not an android ;-)

> >

> Not in Douglas Adams' " Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy " books. Marvin is

> definitely an android...mournful, nothing good will ever happen kinda fella.

>

>

>

> Chris

>