What Women
Don't Know About
Heart Attacks can
Harm Them

Taking Depression
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Making Your
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Depression is common among people recovering from a heart attack. One study found that one-third of those suffering a heart attack experience depression within the first year.

“After a heart attack, people can suffer loss of functioning and changes in sexuality and work responsibilities,” explains Dr. Sheila Marcus, a psychiatrist at University of Michigan Health System. “It appears that the psychological and physical stress of a heart attack can cause depression. In turn, the depression causes changes in the 'stress circuit' in the body and makes a person more vulnerable to another heart attack because of changes in blood clotting, and by contributing to abnormal rhythms in the heart.”

Recognizing symptoms and getting treatment is critical because studies show that those who suffer from depression following a heart attack are three times more likely to die than those not feeling depressed. Dr. Marcus advises that friends and family members look for these classic symptoms:
• Too much or too little sleep
• Guilty thoughts or preoccupation with mortality
• Loss of energy or interest in pleasurable activities
• No interest in food or strong cravings for carbohydrates
• Depressed or irritable moods

“If symptoms linger for more than a few weeks, friends or family members should alert the person’s cardiologist,” recommends Dr. Marcus.

At the University of Michigan Health System, the heart rehabilitation program addresses the emotional needs of patients as well as the physical ones. Comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation includes:
• help to establish routine exercise
• support for proper sleep
• instruction on diet
• stress management
• psychological support.

In some cases, the physician may recommend an antidepressant, which can not only lift the person’s mood, but also lower the risk of having another heart attack.

One key step in avoiding or fighting depression following a heart attack, recommends Dr. Marcus, is for a person to maintain social contacts.