Sure, we’ve always known that anger and rage isn’t healthy.  But what we’re learning more and more is just how closely connected mental health is to physical health.

In today’s New York Times, Robert Allen recounts how “a recent meta-analysis of 44 prospective studies in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology confirms a strong relationship between anger and both the onset and outcome from coronary heart disease; moreover, approximately 1.5 percent of heart attacks are “triggered” by intense anger.”  And that’s the most basic type of relationship.  Most of us are perfectly comfortable with the idea that anger can be bad for you.

But did you know that optimistic people are less likely to get sick from the cold?  Dr. Sheldon Cohen, at Carnegie Melon, has become recognized for his work linking psychological factors like stress, social support network and optimism to susceptibility from disease.  His highest-profile research involves exposing people to the cold virus — a controlled amount of virus in a controlled setting — and predicting who will become sick based on factors like their optimism and psychological resources.  Dr. Cohen’s work is starting to get more and more recognition.  Just last week he delivered the 2009 Contributions in Positive Health Award Lecture at the First World Congress on Positive Psychology.

The connection between physical health and psychological factors is just the beginning.  This study of positive psychical health represents one of the primary focuses of positive psychology, moving forward.  At the recent World Congress on Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman and other thought-leaders argue that positive psychology ought to be about more than the study of happiness: we should study positive health, positive education and the science of flourishing.

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