There are numerous studies that link depression and heart disease more strongly in women than in men. Anxiety also is linked to women who have suffered heart attacks. Anxiety is a normal reaction to a stressor. Women’s worries and anxieties may show up in the body through physical symptoms like back pain, sleeplessness, or stomach discomfort. However, for people who have had a heart attack, anxiety can affect us by manifesting as chest pain and subsequent heart attacks, as well as in the kinds of body/mind/spirit depression described in my book.