A cry unheard: Sudden reductions in blood pressure while talking about feelings of hopelessness and helplessness

Abstract

This paper describes sudden extreme drops in blood pressure in both experimental and clinical situations when a person is talking about or describing situations of hopelessness and helplessness. These changes are discussed in the context of historical perspectives about the cardiovascular system. A new perspective is introduced, one in which these blood pressure changes are seen as part of an unheard cry for understanding. It is hypothesized that such changes do not occur in response to a person's attempts to communicate a sense of hopelessness, but rather are the biological foundations of the hopelessness itself. Viewed from such a context an entirely new therapeutic approach is outlined regarding the treatment of patients suffering from a wide variety of psychosomatic as well as psychological disturbances.

Despair and hopelessness in the context of HIV – a meta‐synthesis on qualitative research findings

“…According to Rowe (1986) a totally hopeless person does not need to use violence to die, supporting the idea that hope is present in suicidal ideation and supporting the idea that suicide is possible in despair (see also Engel 1968). Lynch et al. (1993) found sudden reductions in blood pressure while people were talking about hopelessness.…”

“…According to Rowe (1986) a totally hopeless person does not need to use violence to die, supporting the idea that hope is present in suicidal ideation and supporting the idea that suicide is possible in despair (see also Engel 1968). Lynch et al (1993) found sudden reductions in blood pressure while people were talking about hopelessness. They interpret the findings in the following way: the blood pressure reductions represent the biological foundations of hopelessness; reductions are not responses to the person's attempts to communicate their sense of hopelessness.…”

A novel psychophysiological treatment for vasovagal syncope

“…The simple act of communication (talking or sign language) is routinely accompanied by an increase in blood pressure within 30 s. In contrast, when patients allude to feelings of extreme hopelessness or helplessness, the BP can suddenly drop by as much as 50%. 28 In this patient, therapy was focused progressively on postural stress of standing, expression of anger in a modulated fashion, and other covert affective struggles. The patient subsequently reported that 'she slowly began to learn what her body felt like when her blood pressure was going down ... learned to recognize stress triggers that caused her pressure to fall ... learned methods of elevating pressure in the autonomic laboratory by doing simple mathematics, moving, talking, etc.'…”

Past Disclosure and Conversational Experience: Effects on Cardiovascular Functioning While Women Talk

“…Recently, we put forward a theoretical framework in an attempt to broadly conceptualize many of the CVR findings (Lyons, Spicer, Tuffin, & Chamberlain, 2000). According to this account, the consistent elevations that are evident in cardiovascular functioning during talking (e.g., Lynch, Lynch, & Friedmann, 1992;Stein & Boucher, 1993) or any form of communication, including sign language (Malinow, Lynch, Foreman, Friedman, & Thomas, 1986) might be conceptualized as a correlate of self-construction processes. We suggested that talking engages the speaker in many ways and that this engagement might manifest itself in physiological processes, such as CVR.…”