Psychosomatics 9: 34-37, 1968
Copyright
© 1968 Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine
Psychological Impact of Heart Disease in the Family of the Patient
MERTON S. HONEYMAN PH.D.1,
HERBERT RAPPAPORT M.A.1,
MARVIN REZNIKOFF PH.D.1,
BERNARD C. GLUECK JR. M.D.1, , and
HENRY EISENBERG M.D.1
1 From the Connecticut State Department of Health and the Institute of Living, Hartford, Connecticut
In contrast to previous investigations which have addressed themselves to the problem of understanding the disrupting effect that a myocardial infarction has on the personality of the patient, 68 the present study focused entirely on the impact on immediate family members. It was hypothesized that offspring of coronary disease patients, unlike control subjects, would reflect the concerns which have umsually been associated with the patient and that the effect would be more pronounced in offspring who are of the same sex as the patient. The resuilts indicated that the off-spring group did differ significantly from the control group on three MMPI scales which measumre the degree of somatic concern and depressive outlook communicated by the subject. The second prediction was not canfirmed as no differences were found in the offspring group based on the sex variable. While no prediction was made for spouses of the offspring, this group responded to the MMPI in the direction of their mates, but not to a significantly different degree from the control group.
It was concluded that progeny of coronary patients are very much effected psychologically by the affliction of a parent so that similar emotional concerns are adopted. The lack of significant differences within the offspring group on the sex variable was explained largely by the hypothesis posed by another invesgator14 which asserts that conflicts of identification are usually present in coronary families.
