Joe says:

Doctors rarely talk explicitly to their heart patients about the risk of future cardiac events. Consequently, their patients assume the worst when, in fact, most do just fine.

Years ago, researchers at Stanford University asked a group of patients soon after their heart attacks to rate their likelihood of having another major cardiac problem (fatal or nonfatal) over the next year. Almost uniformly, the interviewees vastly overestimated their subsequent cardiac risk - suggesting that they anticipated an unfavorable prognosis. Yet the annual rate of death in these same patients was actually 1.5%, and only 2% had recurrent nonfatal heart attacks!

Today increasing numbers of heart patients are entering their seventies, eighties and nineties, oftentimes outliving counterparts without heart disease. That's because many patients learn to live a healthier lifestyle and, perhaps equally important, develop the mind-set necessary to deal with the challenges of heart disease. There is considerable evidence to suggest we get what we expect and attract what we fear. Invariably, those patients who not only survive but thrive believe they can achieve longevity and a high quality of life.
1 | Jun. 30, 2008 at 6:16pm