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Psychiatric morbidity and hostility in hypertension

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

A. H. Mann*
Affiliation:
From the Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr A. H. Mann, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.

Synopsis

In a large survey of subjects aged between 35 and 64, no difference was detected in the amount of psychiatric morbidity, determined by response to the General Health Questionnaire, between those with hypertension and those with normal pressure. This finding also obtained if only those subjects ignorant of their own blood pressure level were considered for the same comparison.

As a result of administration of a standardized psychiatric interview and a hostility questionnaire to 108 hypertensive and normotensive subjects of a special study, differences in the expression of hostility were demonstrated between the 2 groups. Subjects with hypertension appear to demonstrate more hostility and be less self-critical than a normotensive group. This finding could reflect the effect of recent diagnosis and treatment of hypertension or be associated with the hypertensive state itself.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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