Study of Phobic Manifestations and Anxiety in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease after Myocardial Infarction in View of Tasks of Psychological Rehabilitation

The study of the psycho-emotional features of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) is important for the development of psychological rehabilitation measures. In particular, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the experienced fears and anxiety states which can be manifested in patients after myocardial infarction (MI). Negative psycho-emotional experiences are known to influence the course and prognosis of the disease. Identification of the structure of phobic manifestations, anxiety and personal characteristics of patients is appropriate for optimizing psychodiagnostics and psychocorrection. The present research is aimed at studying the characteristics of phobic manifestations and the structure of anxiety in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) after myocardial infarction (MI), considering the dominant state, indicators of quality of life and personal characteristics. In the course of the present study 67 patients were surveyed with gender distribution of 12 women (18%) and 55 men (82%): patients of the Almazov National Medical Research Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation who had a history of myocardial infarction (up to 1 year) and had undergone myocardial revascularization. The average age of the patients was 58.95 years. Clinical interview and psychological testing (Dominant State Determining Method, Integrative Test of Anxiety, The 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), The Big Five Personality Test) were used. In patients with CHD after MI with substantial fears the most frequently detected phobic manifestations are the fear of physical activity and the fears associated with the disease itself. In the group of patients with the presence of phobic manifestations more pronounced indicators of anxiety, lower indicators of quality of life (QoL) and emotional stability in the structure of personal characteristics were noted. When planning psychological rehabilitation for patients with CHD who have undergone MI, it is important to consider the likelihood of anxiety and phobic manifestations.