FAQ

Completely normal, and very common. Walking into a room full of strangers takes courage at the best of times. After a cardiac arrest, when you may already be dealing with anxiety or a changed sense of who you are, it can feel like a significant step.

Most people who have attended their first SCA UK meet up describe the same thing: it was harder to get through the door than they expected, and far better on the other side of it than they had imagined. The moment someone else in the room says something you have never heard anyone say before, and you realise they understand exactly what you mean, is one of the more remarkable experiences recovery has to offer.

You can always come for an hour and see how you feel. No one will put you on the spot or expect anything of you. And if you want to ask questions or read reflections before committing, our blog post Together Through Recovery captures what attending felt like for those who came.

Category: Recovery

Yes, and it is more common than most people realise. Partners, family members, and others who witnessed the arrest or performed CPR often experience their own trauma, anxiety, and adjustment difficulties. In some cases the distress of the people around a survivor is more acute, at least initially, than the survivor’s own. We use the term co-survivor to recognise this, because the people around a cardiac arrest are not simply bystanders. They live with the consequences too.

The same NHS and private support routes available to survivors are open to co-survivors. Your partner can speak to their own GP, self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies in England, or access private therapy. As a member of our community, co-survivors may also be eligible for the free private counselling sessions available through our SADS UK partnership.

We have a dedicated section on our site for co-survivors, and our community is full of partners and family members who understand exactly what your partner is going through. Encouraging them to connect with others who have been in the same position can make a significant difference.

Category: Recovery

It depends entirely on why your cardiac arrest happened. For some survivors, the underlying cause is identified and successfully treated, which substantially reduces the risk of recurrence. For others, particularly those whose cardiac arrest arose from an ongoing arrhythmia or structural heart condition, some elevated risk remains. This is one of the reasons an ICD may be recommended.

Your cardiologist is the right person to discuss your individual risk with. They will have assessed the cause of your arrest and the condition of your heart, and they can give you a clearer picture than any general answer can. It is a reasonable and important question to ask directly.

Living with uncertainty about recurrence is one of the harder aspects of cardiac arrest survival, and the fear of it happening again is one of the most common concerns survivors raise. It does not mean the risk is high. Many survivors find that understanding their risk, even if it is not zero, is less frightening than not knowing. Peer support from others who have navigated the same uncertainty is something our community offers in abundance.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

Yes, very much so. Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress are all recognised clinical responses to life-threatening events, and cardiac arrest is about as life-threatening as it gets. These are not weaknesses or character flaws. They are your nervous system responding to something genuinely terrifying.

Anxiety is particularly common after cardiac arrest, often centring on fear of another arrest, heightened awareness of the heartbeat (sometimes called cardiac hypervigilance), or avoidance of activities that feel risky. Depression affects many survivors too, often arriving some weeks after the event, once the initial adrenaline of survival has worn off.

If feelings like these are persisting beyond a few weeks, are severe, or are affecting your daily life, speak to your GP. There are effective treatments, including CBT, EMDR, and medication. Peer support also helps many people enormously. Members of our community may also be eligible for free private counselling sessions through our partnership with SADS UK.

Category: Recovery

For most survivors, yes, though “better” rarely means the fear disappears entirely. The more honest and useful word is subdued. The fear can be subdued to the point where it no longer controls your decisions, no longer dominates your days, and no longer prevents you from living the life you want to live.

What tends to help most is time, peer support, and appropriate psychological care if needed. Understanding that the anxiety is a normal response to an abnormal event, rather than evidence that something is still wrong, is itself a significant step for many survivors.

The fear may never fully leave. Many long-term survivors describe an ongoing awareness of their mortality that was not there before. But awareness is not the same as fear, and fear is not the same as it winning. Most survivors, given the right support, find that they adjust, and that life on the other side of a cardiac arrest can be rich, purposeful, and genuinely good.

Category: Recovery

Cardiac anxiety is a specific pattern of health anxiety that develops after a cardiac event such as a heart attack or cardiac arrest. Survivors become hypervigilant about their heart, monitoring every beat, twinge, or sensation for signs that something is wrong. Normal physical sensations, such as a slightly raised pulse after climbing stairs, can trigger significant fear.

Cardiac anxiety is closely related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research suggests that between 20 and 30 per cent of cardiac arrest survivors experience clinically significant levels of anxiety or PTSD in the months and years that follow. Many more experience subclinical levels that still significantly affect their quality of life.

If you think you may be experiencing cardiac anxiety, speaking to your GP is a good starting point. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has a good evidence base for this type of anxiety. The British Heart Foundation also offers information on psychological support after a cardiac event.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

There is no fixed timeline. Every survivor’s experience is different, and the duration of fear and anxiety after a cardiac arrest depends on a wide range of factors including the circumstances of the arrest, the level of support received, and whether any underlying psychological needs are addressed.

For some survivors, the acute anxiety settles within the first few months as they adjust to life after the event and build confidence in their body again. For others, particularly those who do not receive appropriate psychological support, anxiety can persist for years.

Seeking support early makes a meaningful difference. Talking to your GP about a referral to cardiac rehabilitation, or connecting with other survivors through SCA UK, can both help to reduce the duration and intensity of anxiety after cardiac arrest. If anxiety continues to affect your daily life, ask your GP for a referral to psychological support, which is a recognised part of cardiac arrest recovery.

Category: Psychological Support

Yes. Fear after a cardiac arrest is one of the most common experiences survivors report, and it is entirely understandable. Your heart stopped without warning, without any of the signals we associate with serious illness. The body you had trusted without thinking turned out to be capable of failing you completely and without notice.

The anxiety that follows is not a sign of weakness or of something going wrong in your recovery. It is a normal psychological response to an abnormal and genuinely life-threatening event. Clinicians recognise this as post-traumatic stress, cardiac anxiety, or hypervigilance, and it is well documented in the research on cardiac arrest survivorship.

If you are experiencing fear, anxiety, or distrust of your own body after a cardiac arrest, you are not alone. SCA UK’s community of over 4,000 survivors includes many people who have been through exactly this, and peer support can make a significant difference. You can also read more about anxiety after cardiac arrest in the SCA UK information section.

Category: Psychological Support

It is very common, and it is important to say so clearly.

Research consistently shows that many cardiac arrest survivors live with lasting effects — whether physical, cognitive or psychological — even when their clinical results look reassuring. Feeling that something has changed, that you tire more easily, worry more, or simply cannot quite get back to who you were before, is a recognised part of survivorship. It does not mean something has been missed medically. It means recovery is complex.

Some of the effects of cardiac arrest are visible — a scar, a device, a medication. Others are invisible. Cognitive changes such as slower processing, difficulties with memory or concentration, and fatigue that does not match how you look from the outside are all commonly reported. So is a persistent sense of anxiety, hypervigilance about your own body, or a changed relationship with the future.

These experiences are not a sign of weakness or failure to recover. They are normal responses to an event in which your heart stopped.

If you are not feeling back to normal, it is worth raising this with your GP or cardiac team rather than waiting to see if it resolves. You deserve support that reflects the full complexity of what you have been through, not just a reassuring scan result.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

Good follow-up care after cardiac arrest should be tailored to the individual, rather than relying on a standard set of tests that produce a single summary score.

For older survivors, good follow-up would include a careful assessment of physical functioning — the ability to move around, carry out self-care, manage daily activities and live independently. Identifying these difficulties early means support and adaptations can be put in place before problems become entrenched.

For younger survivors, good follow-up would include deliberate, compassionate attention to psychological wellbeing — anxiety screening, assessment for PTSD and depression, and support for returning to work and social life. These are not optional extras; they are core outcomes that matter as much as cardiac function.

For all survivors, good follow-up should treat quality of life as having several distinct dimensions — physical, psychological, cognitive and social — not as a single measure. It should continue beyond the first few months, since some effects of cardiac arrest emerge or persist over a longer period.

The RCUK Survivor Quality Standard, published in 2024, sets out a framework for exactly this kind of follow-up. If you are not receiving structured review that addresses your whole experience, it is worth asking your GP or cardiac team what is available to you.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

Yes, based on current research and international guidelines, they should.

Mental health screening — including assessment for anxiety and depression — is recommended as part of post-cardiac arrest follow-up care by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the European Resuscitation Council. Psychological distress is common after cardiac arrest, affecting an estimated 15 to 30% of survivors, and can be just as disabling as physical limitations.

In practice, many follow-up appointments focus primarily or exclusively on cardiac function — the echocardiogram, the device check, the heart rhythm. While these are important, they tell your clinical team very little about how you are managing your anxiety, your sleep, your ability to return to work, or your fear of a recurrence.

If your appointments have not included a conversation about your mental health or psychological wellbeing, it is worth raising this yourself. You might say: “I’ve been struggling with anxiety since the arrest” or “I don’t feel like myself — is there support available?” Your GP, cardiologist or cardiac rehabilitation team can make referrals to psychological support services.

You do not have to wait until things reach crisis point. Raising concerns early leads to better outcomes.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

The figure is higher than many people expect, particularly given that younger survivors tend to have fewer physical problems and are often considered to be doing well. But surviving a cardiac arrest at a young age can be deeply distressing in ways that a physical assessment alone does not capture.

There is the shock of the event itself. The visceral knowledge that your heart stopped. The disruption to work, family life and a future that had seemed secure. The ongoing uncertainty about whether it could happen again. For those in their twenties, thirties or forties — perhaps with young children, a demanding job, and decades of plans — the psychological toll can be severe and long-lasting.

Research has consistently found that anxiety, depression and PTSD are common after cardiac arrest, and that younger survivors are disproportionately affected psychologically. A major Danish study found anxiety levels of nearly 30% in survivors under 35, compared to around 13.5% in those over 75.

Anxiety is a natural response to a traumatic event. The difficulty is that it can go undetected if follow-up appointments are focused almost entirely on physical recovery. If you are experiencing persistent worry, fear or panic since your cardiac arrest, it is worth raising this directly with your GP or cardiac team. You do not have to wait to be asked.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

Several routes to psychological support are available after cardiac arrest, and you do not have to wait until things feel unmanageable before seeking help.

Your GP is usually the first port of call. They can assess your mental health, prescribe medication if appropriate, and refer you to talking therapy. In England, NHS Talking Therapies (formerly IAPT) provides free CBT, counselling, and other therapies, and you can self-refer online without going through your GP first. Waiting times vary by area. Routes in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland differ slightly.

Cardiac rehabilitation often includes a psychological component alongside exercise and education, and is recommended for cardiac arrest survivors. Ask your cardiology team for a referral if you have not been offered one.

Specialist support (for example, if you have complex PTSD, severe depression, or significant cognitive difficulties) can be accessed through your GP, who can refer you to community mental health services or a neuropsychologist.

Peer support, connecting with other survivors and co-survivors who understand the experience from the inside, is highly valued by many people after cardiac arrest. Our community includes thousands of people who have been through similar experiences. Our counselling information page also covers accessing free private sessions available to eligible members.

Co-survivors, including partners, family members, and rescuers, are equally entitled to support. The same NHS and private routes are open to them.

Category: Cardiac Arrest