There is a disturbing link between women’s heart disease and depression. Those suffering depression are more at risk for developing heart disease, and those diagnosed with heart disease are more at risk for suffering depression. The majority of depressed people never get help, however, partly because they don’t know that, along with emotional changes, their physical symptoms might also be caused by depression. Doctors may miss these symptoms, too: Continue reading “How that ache may signal depression”
Category: Heart disease and mental health issues
– posts here focus on the often overlooked emotional impact of having a cardiac event
Depressed? Who, me? Myths and facts about depression after a heart attack
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I have a friend who has a friend who’s been depressed, off and on, for years. During that time, my friend and I have done our fair share of eye-rolling whenever the subject of this person’s depression came up. We wondered why she just couldn’t pull up her socks and quit all this self-absorbed moping around.
Neither my friend nor I had ever had one nanosecond of actually experiencing clinical depression ourselves – which, of course, didn’t stop us from passing judgement. Continue reading “Depressed? Who, me? Myths and facts about depression after a heart attack”
Even heart patients can learn to be optimists
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I’ve been ruminating (something that female heart patients apparently tend to do when feeling depressed) about the writing of Dr. Martin Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the excellent book, Learned Optimism. He writes:
“Optimism is not about ignoring what’s real, but becoming aware of your thoughts about why things happen.”
What’s really at the heart of optimism, Dr. Seligman adds, is how you explain negative experiences to yourself. When something bad happens to a pessimist, she’s likely to get into a sort of dark and hopeless mental muttering that has her thinking things like:
“Why me? Ain’t it awful? It’s permanent and everything is ruined and it’s all their fault.” Continue reading “Even heart patients can learn to be optimists”
Depressing news about depression and women’s heart disease
.by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Women suffering from depression have higher risks of developing heart disease, and women with heart disease have higher risks of becoming depressed. I find this reality a bit depressing…
I was stunned to find myself in that latter group within weeks of my own heart attack. With no personal experience of depression, I knew something was terribly wrong with me, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what that might be. I had just survived a massive heart attack – shouldn’t I be feeling fabulous and grateful? Continue reading “Depressing news about depression and women’s heart disease”
Heart Sisters 