Psychosomatic Medicine 31:57-67 (1969)
© 1969 American Psychosomatic Society

Psychiatric Aspects of Idiopathic Cardiomyopathy

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, and Beth Israel Hospital Boston, Mass

Idiopathic cardiomyopathy, in some cases, may be an ailment in which emotional factors constitute such a prominent pathogenic component that progressive worsening and death may occur if the emotional factors are not favorably altered. That is, emotional factors may serve as a contributing factor to the development and maintenance of the symptoms and perhaps to the pathology of idiopathic cardiomyopathy. Certainly, in selected instances, if not in all cases of idiopathic cardiomyopathy, the possibility of emotional determinants should be considered.

Two cases, which are described in detail, suggest possibilities of a distinctive profile for some patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, but this should not be assumed on the basis of so small a sample.

Certain strongly driven persons who are vulnerable to cardiac pathology may have a subliminal hypomanic emotional profile serving as a contributing factor in the development of cardiac disorders and may have emotional crises serving as precipitants of increased symptoms.