Cardiac rehabilitation improves health and quality of life and reduces risk of further cardiac events. Twenty-eight per cent of cardiac rehabilitation patients experience clinically significant anxiety and 19% suffer depression. Such patients are at greater risk of death, further cardiac events and poorer quality of life and use more health care, leading to higher NHS costs. The available psychological treatments for cardiac patients have small effects on anxiety and depression and quality of life; therefore, more effective treatments are needed. Research shows that a thinking style dominated by rumination and worry maintains anxiety and depression. A psychological intervention (metacognitive therapy) effectively reduces this style of thinking and alleviates depression and anxiety in mental health settings. The PATHWAY study evaluated two versions of metacognitive therapy applied in cardiac rehabilitation services.
