[Psychiatry for cardiologists: psychological care for the coronary patient].

: During the different post-infarction stages, the coronary patient can show different profiles of adaptation, requiring adequate therapeutic approaches. In the acute phase, anxiety and irritability are a common response. The handling of information and the use of anxiolytics are the therapeutic alternatives that can best improve the possible psychic instability of the patient. During the rehabilitation phase, it is frequent to find the presence of denial mechanisms as a defence against anxiety or depression. The use of antidepressant drugs will depend on the clinical situation of each patient. It is also necessary in this phase to deal with problems such as possible sexual disorders, as well as with the control of risk factors and the reintegration into family life. It is a question, in short, of achieving a healthier lifestyle and a better quality of life. In the long term, the aim would be focused on the return to work and on the follow-up of the patient, so as to avoid that he may come back to the lifestyle he was leading before his disease. Nowadays, as clinical cardiology has lost importance, giving way to invasive cardiology, it is necessary to restore the humanistic and psychological role of the cardiologist, focused on the cardiologist-patient relationship. The object of this paper is to underline the importance of the cardiologist in the psychiatric-psychological attention of the coronary patient.