Heart and Mind

Since the seminal book Heart and Mind: The Practice of Cardiac Psychology was first published in 1996, the research linking psychosocial factors with heart disease has expanded enormously.

This second edition distills this research, providing chapters by the world's foremost authorities on the major psychosocial risk factors linked with heart disease, including depression, social isolation, and anger, as well as several emerging factors, such as "Type D" (distressed) personality, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and vital exhaustion. Clinical interventions involving stress reduction, exercise, and Transcendental Meditation are also explored.
About the Author: Robert Allan, PhD, is a clinical assistant professor of psychology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. In 1983, with cardiologist Stephen S. Scheidt, MD, he cofounded the Coronary Risk Reduction Program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Since then, Dr. Allan has taught twice-weekly classes on the Step-Down Cardiac Care Unit, educating well over 10,000 patients and their family members. In addition, he leads the stress management programs at New York-Presbyterian Hospital's cardiac health centers.

Dr. Allan's practice specialty is the psychological treatment of cardiac patients; he has treated hundreds of cardiac patients in individual therapy and has conducted more than 2,500 support groups. In 1996, with coeditor Stephen S. Scheidt, he edited the first edition of Heart and Mind: The Practice of Cardiac Psychology. He has written many journal articles and book chapters on cardiac psychology, including contributions to Braunwald's Heart Disease series. Dr. Allan is also the author of Getting Control of Your Anger; he had an extensive interview about anger with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America.

In 1982, Dr. Allan established the first stress reduction-support group for cardiac patients in the New York metropolitan area, at the Nassau County chapter of the American Heart Association. Subsequently, he led the first stress management program for officers and wives at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He also is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Allan earned his BA from Queens College of the City University of New York and his PhD in clinical psychology from New York University, after which he took a position playing keyboards in a band at the Concord Hotel in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Subsequently, he studied music at the Juilliard School and has performed popular music around the United States and in Europe and Morocco. He is actively involved in music as a pianist, electric keyboardist, and composer and is currently completing a recording project with a number of celebrated jazz and classical musicians. His website is http: //robertallanphd.com.

Jeffrey Fisher, MD, is clinical professor of medicine (cardiology) at the Weill Cornell Medical College and an attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He graduated with an AB with "distinction in all subjects" from Cornell University (College of Arts and Science) in 1972. He double majored in biology (neurobiology and behavior) and psychology (physiological psychology) and was an undergraduate teaching assistant for Professor James Maas's famous "Introduction to Psychology-Psych 101," Professor William Lambert's "Theories of Personality," and Professor Parker Marden's "Sociology of Medicine."

Anticipating a career as a psychiatrist, he attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he became enamored with internal medicine, specifically cardiology. He deferred graduating from Einstein after 3 years to spend a year doing laboratory research with Drs. Edmund Sonnenblick and Edward Kirk, presenting his research at the American Heart Association meeting in 1975. After graduating with honors, he completed his internship and residency at Einstein and did his cardiovascular fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University Hospital.

Dr. Fisher joined the faculty of Cornell Medical College in 1981 as an invasive cardiologist and began private practice in 1989. He has continued to teach and write, and he has authored and/or coauthored original articles and reviews on cardiovascular anatomy and physiology; coronary, valvular, and congenital heart disease; pulmonary hypertension; cardiogenic shock; cardiac tumors; metabolic cardiopulmonary disease; cardiac psychology; and medical history. He has served as a cardiologist to both the New York City fire and police departments.

Dr. Fisher has been the recipient of numerous academic scholarships, awards, and honors. His coediting of this book, and cowriting Chapter 3 ("Psychocardiac Disorders") has taken him full circle to his long-standing interest in how the psyche affects the soma.