Have you ever wondered how well science supports the adage “stress kills?” Of course, a convincing answer would not fit into a Psychology Today post, because stress neuroscience has shown that for all of us, there are many possible pathways from stress to death.

But one of the more intriguing pathways from stress to early death is through the formation of blood clots. And who is better qualified to tell us about the state of the science of stress and blood clots than Roland von Känel, MD, an internist, psychiatrist, prolific researcher, and the Director of the Department of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine at the University of Zurich, Switzerland?

In 2007 at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society (APS)1 in Budapest, when Prof von Känel won the APS Weiner Research Scientist Award, he told us how “stress thickens the blood” summarizing the highlights of his research into this topic since 2000. Earlier this year Prof von Känel published a thorough review (13 pages, 271 references) on “Stress-induced hypercoagulability.” Here are a few pearls from that paper.

Balancing Thick and Thin

The first pearl von Känel helps us appreciate is the sheer number of measurable factors that........

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