About this Research Topic
Mental disorders and cardiac diseases are dynamically interrelated. Shared processes include neuro-hormonal, physiological, behavioral, cognitive, social and genetic/ epigenetic factors that have an impact on both psycho-cardiologic health and disease. Beyond co-morbidity during (sub-) acute illness states, the childhood origins of adult mental disorders and cardiovascular diseases are increasingly recognized.
This lifetime perspective integrates findings concerning exposure to adverse life events, metabolic programming, allostatic load and their relation to the long-term development of psycho-cardiologic diseases. Further, current psychological distress links psycho-cardiological pathophysiology via dysregulation of different stress-hormone systems, impacting directly that the integrity of neuronal circuits and the cardiovascular system; and indirectly by influencing the adoption of health risk behaviors.
The aim of this Research Topic is to provide an up-to-date overview, and to show the different perspectives of disciplines working in the field of Psychocardiology, such as Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine, Cardiology, Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Physiotherapy.
We welcome Original Research articles, meta-analyses, narrative reviews, case series, and viewpoints articles covering all aspects of psychocardiology, for example:
• Mechanisms: the psychological and neuro-biological mechanisms linking heart and brain
• Clinical observations and data: case series, original publications
• From early life to adulthood: the lifespan perspective of co-development of psychocardiological disorders
• Prevention: preventive strategies, such as early interventions to enhance health literacy, or strategies counteracting unhealthy lifestyle and obesity
• Treatment: treatment strategies, such as psychoeducation, psychotherapy and pharmacological strategies.
• Epidemiology: Epidemiology, health economics and healthcare research.
Keywords: Psychocardiology, Brain-Heart Interaction, Psychosomatic Medicine, Treatment, Prevention, Mechanisms, Epidemiology, #CollectionSeries
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