Introduction: Heart Disease and Psychosocial Factors -- Introduction: Heart Disease and Psychosocial Factors -- Clinical Psychology for Cardiac Disease -- Clinical Psychology for Cardiac Disease -- Psychological Risk Factors for Cardiac Disease -- Psychological Risk Factors for Cardiac Disease and Pathophysiological Mechanisms: An Overview -- Psychophysiology of Heart Disease -- Mental Stress Ischemia: Characteristics, Pathophysiology, Prognosis and Treatment -- Depression and CHD: Prevalence, Prognosis, Pathophysiology and Treatment -- Prevalence of Depression in Chronic Heart Failure -- Depression in Coronary Artery Disease: Assessment and Treatment -- Anxiety and Heart Disease -- Anxiety, Depressive Symptoms and Heart Transplantation -- Psychological Factors in Hypertension Development and Treatment -- Type A, Type D, Anger-Prone Behavior and Risk of Relapse in CHD Patients -- Defensive Hostility and Cardiovascular Disease: Theoretical and Empirical Bases for an Interpersonal Approach-Avoidance Conflict Perspective -- In Sickness and In Health: Interpersonal Risk and Resilience in Cardiovascular Disease -- Psychological Stress in Women: the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study -- Application of Neural Networks and Other Artificial Adaptive Systems in Prediction and Data Mining of Risk Psychological Profile for CHD -- Person Measurement and Rehabilitation Outcome: the New Perspective of Rasch Analysis -- The “Heart” of Cardiology: an Imaginary Conversation with Bernard Lown -- Psychological Treatments in Cardiac Rehabilitation -- The Art of Listening to Cardiac Patient and his Family: the Meanings of Suffering Along Temporal Dimension -- Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease -- Hanging onto a Heartbeat: Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples Dealing with the Trauma of Coronary Heart Disease -- Type A Behavior Pattern and Its Treatment -- Relaxation Techniques and Hypnosis in the Treatment of CHD Patients -- Cardiological and Psychological Mobile Care through Telematic Technologies for Heart Failure Patients: ICAROS Project -- Functioning and Disability in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease within the ICF Classification Framework: Proposals for Using ICF to Classify Functioning and Disability in Patients with Cardiovascular Disease -- Coherence-Building Techniques and Heart Rhythm Coherence Feedback: New Tools for Stress Reduction, Disease Prevention and Rehabilitation.

Recent findings have demonstrated that psychosocial conditions are linked to heart disease, and that interventions on patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) may reduce morbidity and help them to achieve a better quality of life. The publication offers a thorough and up-to-date review of scientific research supporting evidence of the relationship between cardiac disease and psychological condition, and offers practical suggestions for developing a clinical practice, and directions for future research in the new field of "cardiac psychology". Every chapter is authored by world-renowned researchers in the field. The volume intends to be a theoretical and practical guide for physicians, for clinical and health psychologists, and for all professionals active in the area of care of patients recovering from heart disease; it will be useful also for residents willing to understand the mind-health link.