Psychological treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris

Evaluated the effects of stress management training (SMT) on chronic stable angina pectoris (AP) symptoms, medication use, exercise tolerance, and anxiety. Ss were 29 AP patients (aged 46–63 yrs). 14 Ss were assigned to a cognitive-behavioral SMT group, and 15 Ss were assigned to a routine care (RC) group. The data suggest that SMT positively affects AP symptomatology relative to RC. SMT Ss derived reliable relative benefit both in terms of the duration of AP attacks and in terms of reported recourse to medication. Exercise tolerance data indicate that the benefit of SMT may not be restricted solely to subjective report. Following SMT, Ss' self-limited exercise capacity was reliably higher than following RC.