Clinical Research

Using Anger Management Techniques to Reduce Risk of Heart Disease

Can anger management work to reduce risk for coronary disease in people with no existing heart disease? That is the question posed by Richard Sloan, PhD, Director of the Behavioral Medicine Program at Columbia University Medical Center.

"We know that there is a correlation between anger and the incidence of cardiac events," Dr. Sloan says. "We also have good reason to believe that well established hostility-reducing techniques can reduce the incidence of heart events for people with heart disease."

Now Dr. Sloan's group is looking at healthy people who, according to standardized tests, can be classified as highly angry or hostile, in an effort to learn if these treatments can reduce the rate of heart disease for these individuals. The study will recruit men and women aged 20 to 45 who live in the New York metropolitan area. Participants will attend weekly counseling sessions to learn relaxation techniques and mental and behavioral techniques for controlling anger. The study is particularly relevant to New York residents, who are subject to unique stresses that are believed to contribute to the city's unusually high rates of fatal heart attacks, despite accessibility to outstanding medical care.