Treating the Aching Heart

Book excerpt: Why is depression bad for heart disease? And how does heart disease contribute to depression? And why is treatment for depressed people with heart disease so often inadequate? Through personal vignettes, accessible scientific explanations, and medical illustrations, Treating the Aching Heart traces the vicious cycle of depression and heart disease and points the way to better care based on cutting-edge science. The book presents a new view of depression as a broad-reaching illness with a distinct neurobiology that influences the most up-to-date model of heart disease. Treating the Aching Heart provides a window into the most studied mind-body problem, the interaction between the brain and the heart. Though many mysteries remain, in no other area is the relationship between a mental disorder and a physical disorder better understood than in the study of depression and heart disease. Anyone who has suffered from depression (about one in four U.S. adults) or some form of heart disease (also about one in four), or has a close family member with either problem, will find this book a useful guide to treatment.