Unresolved trauma in spouses as a risk factor for myocardial infarction in men

Abstract

This paper tests the hypothesis of a high frequency of traumatic events and high levels of alexithymia in wives of individuals with myocardial infarction (MI), assuming that this constellation may have led to choosing a husband with a Type A Behaviour Pattern (TABP)—characterized by irritability, hyper-competition, time urgency and denial of difficulties—which is known to represent an increased risk for MI and to reinforce this pattern. Twenty wives of patients with MI and 20 wives of patients with mild orthopaedic (Orth) problems were administered a Childhood Traumatic Events Scale (CTES) and the TAS-20. MI wives showed higher scores on the CTES than Orth wives; 10 MI wives as against three Orth ones reported a history of very severe childhood trauma. TAS 20 scores were higher in MI than in Orth wives.

Keywords:

• Infarction
• trauma
• Type A
• alexithymia

Notes

The number rises to eight if we consider “sexual molestation from godfather” suffered by Subject 12 as symbolically linked to a father figure.

The traumatic effect of this event, and the probable seriousness of reasons leading to it, should be related to the historical period: since women in our sample are around 51 on average, separation of parents must have taken place in the 1950s or early 1960s, when it was highly uncommon in Italy.