Psychological reactions of hospitalized male patients to a heart attack. Age and social-class differences.

Fifty male patients, 35-67 years of age, hospitalized because of heart attack, showed striking differences in their overt psychological responses to their illness. Responses ranged from frank depression to cheerfulness, from extreme anxiety to casualness, and from scrupulous cooperation with the medical regimen to active defiance. Ratings on these variables were based on systematic interview data obtained from attending nurses. Additional data were obtained through series of interviews with 20 patients and physicians. Analysis of the data suggested the importance of age and social class factors in the observed differences. The findings are discussed with reference to research on normal personality changes with age, and to reports on social class differences.