Changing the coronary-prone (Type A) behavior pattern in a nonclinical population

Abstract

This report presents the design and initial findings of an attempt to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in healthy men by modifying their type A behavior pattern. A group of 27 professional and executive volunteers, aged 39--59, who had been medically assessed as free from coronary heart disease, were randomly assigned to brief psychotherapy and behavior therapy groups. Each treatment group met for 14 sessions over a period of 5 months. Pre- and postmeasures of physiological (serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, blood pressure) and psychological (anxiety, psychological symptoms, satisfaction) variables were taken. Results indicate that both treatment groups changed in the desired direction on most of the psychological and physiological variables without apparent change in habits of diet, exercise, smoking, or work load. The findings are provocative, but only tentative, leaving questions of clinical validity, durability, and generalizability unresolved. Nevertheless, they indicate that this approach to modifying type A behavior may reduce coronary risk and therefore warrants further exploration.

Psychosomatic Medicine: Integrating Dynamic, Behavioral and Biological Perspectives

“…Within the type A personality profile, anger and irritability seem to be the noxious agent. A host of treatment approaches have been demonstrated to modify type A personalities [37]. These most commonly include behav ioral, educational and cognitive strategies drawn from learning theory [38].…”

Behavioral Interventions and Compliance to Treatment Regimes

“…It is encourag ing that several studies utilized Applied Analysis of Behavior to expedite the intervention process or recognized that the demands of the behav ior change process should be recognized and dealt with (e.g. giving up Type A behavior may be very anxiety provoking) (41,42,47). Some re searchers not only recognized the demand characteristics of the interven tion, but attempted to control for their contaminating effect on out come (44,46).…”

“…There is great variation in the quality of study designs. Many research ers used true experimental designs with random assignment to various treatment and control groups (41,44,46,47,51,58,66). Some considered various conditions conducive to the placebo effect and attempted to control this problem by using a nonspecifi c therapy group as a comparison (45,53,55).…”

Effects of two self-control procedures on modifying type a behavior

“…Altering the TABP in individuals with coronary heart disease (CHD) has been the focus of a research interest (Suinn, 1982). Moreover, a growing number of researchers (e.g., Kelly & Stone, 1987;Roskies, Spevack, Surkis, Cohen, & Gilman, 1978) have directed their attention to modification of the TABP in healthy subjects with the goal of future prevention of CHD.…”