Telling (and listening to) stories has long been held to have a positive effect on health (1–3). Studies in pathography and narrative medicine (4, 5) suggest that telling others about one's illness can help ease suffering, by imposing a narrative order on frightening events, and aid the physician in caring for the individual. Therefore, studying stories as a potential therapy for hypertension seems worthwhile. In this issue, Houston and colleagues (6) present a provocative report on how listening to stories can help lower blood pressure among African Americans, particularly those in whom blood pressure was poorly controlled at baseline.
Although ...
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Author, Article and Disclosure Information
From Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033.
Disclosures: None disclosed. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M10-2579.
Corresponding Author: Michael J. Green, MD, MS, Department of Humanities, Penn State College of Medicine, C1743, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033; e-mail, [email protected]
Current Author Addresses: Drs. Myers and Green: Department of Humanities, Penn State College of Medicine, C1743, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA 17033.
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