Psychosomatic Medicine 34:194-198 (1972)
© 1972 American Psychosomatic Society

The Influence of Interpersonal Interaction on Diastolic Blood Pressure

¹ Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry Yale University School of Medicine New Haven, Conn.

Address for reprint requests: Dr. Redford Williams, Bldg 10, Rm 3N222, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md 20014.

Diastolic blood pressure was measured in 17 subjects during interview situations in which the novelty of the situation, the content of the interview and the amount of interpersonal interaction were systematically varied. The stability of a diastolic blood pressure rise from one test session to the next during an interview dealing with personal content and having relatively much interpersonal interaction suggests that novelty is not responsible for this effect. A significantly higher diastolic blood pressure was observed during an interview with relatively more interpersonal interaction than during an interview dealing with the same content but with relatively little interpersonal interaction. The data suggest that the process of interpersonal interaction is more important than the content of the interview in determining the diastolic blood pressure response during the interview.

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