Mirror Drawing Test (MDT), one of the most convenient mental stress tests developed in our country, was carried out in 73 hypertensives and 6 normal controls. In this experiment, the response of blood pressure, heart rate and cardiac work were analysed.1) Blood pressure, heart rate and cardiac work were increased during MDT test in most of the patients. However, the response was different from patient to patient. Blood pressure responese was greater in hypertensives than in normal controls.2)Even in hypertensive individuals, there were various types of the cardiovascular responses to the test. The grade and pattern of the responses were influenced by the pathophysiological aspects such as the type or the stage of hypertension, or by the psychological aspects such as type in CMI test, YG test, TPI test or Rorschach test and troubles in life history, of the patient.3) It was important to learn that the attitude or eagerness of the patients toward the test seemed to modify the response to it.4)MDT seems to be a useful routine test to investigate the correlation between the emotional stress and the cardiovascular function in the clinical field. However, further investigation will be needed to clarify the role of psychosomatic factors regulating the cardiovascular responses to the emotinal stress.
