The Relationship between Behavioral and Metacognitive Brain Systems Sensitivity and Emotion Regulation in Heart Failure Patients

Introduction: According to the previous studies, the role of psychological factors in the incidence of heart disease is undeniable. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between behavioral and metacognitive brain systems sensitivity and emotion regulation in heart patients. Materials and Methods: The present study is a descriptive correlational study. The statistical population of this study consists of patients (n=180) with heart failure in the Cardiovascular Center of Shahid Madani Tabriz, Iran in 2018. The sample was selected based on the Morgan table and using the available sampling method (n=120). Gary Wilson’s personality questionnaires, Wells metacognition, and Gratz and Romer’s emotional disorder were used to collect data. Results: Our findings have shown that emotional disorder has a negative and significant relationship with the behavioral activating system and a positive and significant relationship with behavioral inhibition systems and war and escape. There is also a positive and significant relationship between emotional distress and positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about worry, cognitive confidence, and cognitive awareness. There was no relationship between emotional disorder and superstition, punishment, and responsibility. The results of regression analysis also showed that volatile variables, behavioral inhibition system, and behavioral activator were able to predict changes in emotional variability in heart patients, respectively. Conclusion: The sensitivity of behavioral and metacognitive brain systems plays an important role in emotion regulation in patients with heart failure.