Affect Regulation and Cardiac Rehabilitation: Common Strategies, Their Impact on Cardiovascular Health, and Opportunities for Intervention.

Psychological factors are modifiable determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and mortality. Among those, affect regulation -the ways individuals cope with stressors and regulate emotions- is of special interest because it is a core psychotherapy target. Growing research from general and cardiac populations suggests adaptive affect regulation (eg, reinterpreting challenging situations) predicts lower CVD incidence/mortality risk, and related risk factors (eg, diabetes onset, unhealthy behaviors), whereas maladaptive affect regulation (eg, disengaging from stressors) predicts worse outcomes. Furthermore, psychotherapies enhancing affect regulation (eg, cognitive-behavioral therapy) are beneficial for mental health and appear promising for certain physical health outcomes among CVD populations.