Abstract

MAGAN UCEDA, Inés; SANZ FERNANDEZ, Jesús; ESPINOSA LOPEZ, Regina  and  GARCIA-VERA, Mª Paz. Emotional and cognitive profile of sustained essential hypertension in comparison with normotension. Clínica y Salud [online]. 2013, vol.24, n.2, pp.67-76. ISSN 2174-0550.  https://dx.doi.org/10.5093/cl2013a8.

This study was aimed at analyzing the psychological profile of essential hypertension (EHT) concerning the following emotional constructs: trait anger, anger expression and control, anxiety, depression, stress, and, as a novelty in comparison with previous scientific literature, automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes related to anger-hostility. To do that, a group of 57 adults with sustained EHT was compared with a group of 37 adults with normotension on a variety of psychometric measures of those emotional and cognitive constructs. Results suggest that people with EHT, in comparison with normotensive, show significantly higher levels of anxiety and anger-hostility coping thoughts as well as an almost significant trend toward a higher frequency of hostile and physically aggressive thoughts. Implications of these findings for psychological models of EHT and for the design and improvement of psychological interventions in EHT are discussed.

Keywords : Hypertension; Anger; Hostility; Anxiety; Depression; Stress; Automatic thoughts; Dysfunctional attitudes.

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