Thriving With Heart Disease

"Not only can you survive with heart disease, you can actually thrive with it for many, many years. If you cope well and follow the advice I give you in this book, you can live as long as you would if you didn't have the illness."

-- from Chapter One, "Begin the Journey"

In this landmark volume, Wayne M. Sotile, Ph.D., breaks the story that every heart patient needs to know: In many cases, it's how you deal with the illness and not the condition of your heart that will determine how completely you recover, or if you recover at all. If you're one of the 61 million Americans diagnosed with heart illness -- whether you've had a heart attack, high blood pressure, angina, or surgery -- the program in this book can extend your life and might even save it.

Many books have dealt with the physical aspects of cardiovascular illness, but Thriving with Heart Disease is the first to offer patients and their loved ones a program for coping with the emotional and psychological side effects that can ravage relationships and throw families into disarray. Dr. Sotile's extraordinary success with cardiac patients attests to his belief that living with heart disease is not a temporary adjustment but a journey you take one moment at a time toward the healthy life you were meant to live, surrounded by the people you love.

Based on the experiences of thousands of patients at Wake Forest University's Cardiac Rehabilitation Program -- the nation's first mind-body center for living well with heart illness -- Dr. Sotile's program provides step-by-step instructions on how to establish a robust, new normal life for you and the people you care about, whether you're a parent with young children, a mature adult with grandchildren, or a single man or woman whose family is a devoted network of friends.

Written with warmth and humor and filled with news of the latest research into the links between heart and brain, body and soul, Thriving with Heart Disease is the book that every heart patient needs to read. It's not a diet book, an exercise book, or a cookbook. It is the first self-help manual to guide heart patients and their loved ones through the psychological side effects they're likely to experience and onto the path to vibrant, new normal lives.