Understanding of emotions and cardiovascular related diseases

The aim of the present study is to examine the relation between understanding of emotions and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. Coronary heart disease is a type of cardiovascular disease that usually coexists with other diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and obesity. The uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that examined the relationship between the cardiovascular related diseases named above and the understanding of emotions in the context of Emotional Intelligence (EI). The latter consists of a wide range of psychological factors that reflect many aspects of human thought and behavior, providing a very comprehensive picture of each person. The experimental design through the observed variables were approached, has not been applied in previous studies internationally. The study was conducted in 300 participants during a 3 year period. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire, assessing various aspects of EI, such as self-emotion appraisal, other emotion appraisal, emotion regulation and use of emotions. As hypothesized, coronary heart disease is a prognostic factor of regulation of emotions. The results of this study extend and reinforce the findings of previous studies, which emphasize on the relationship of cardiovascular related diseases and psychological characteristics, such as anxiety and anger, being aspects of EI. Additionally, this work fills a gap in the relevant Greek literature, as a first attempt to examine the correlation of EI with cardiovascular related diseases. New approaches are needed to improve primary prevention, early detection and clinical management of those diseases. Furthermore, this study focused on the need to cultivate and improve EI of patients, in order to eliminate the effects of the diseases.