Skip Granger
As a member since 1994 of the Commonwealth Club of California, I have attended many events and lectures over the years. One such speaker stands out – cardiologist Meyer Friedman, author of books on connections between Type A behavior and health problems such as heart disease. I had a glass of wine with Friedman prior to his delivering his speech. After asking me a few questions, he told me that he was forming an active Type A group in Marin County along with an anonymous control group. If I was willing, he would put me in the active group because I was about as Type A as he had seen, and I might die if he put me in the control group!
In case you need a remi
nder, a Type A personality tends to be a driven to succeed, hard-working, competitive, fast-paced, and sometimes chronically angry and impatient. Type A’s are often very sucessful; they get things done, partly by putting pressure on themselves.
What I knew about Type A personalities was limited to what I heard in the lecture, so I had a lot to learn! About 12 of us met weekly with a leader in a private school in Marin County. They were definitely Type A’s. When we failed to do something properly there was a fine — not for the perpetrator, but rather for the person sitting 5 seats to his left! That made us try harder to do things properly. (At right, Dr. Meyer Friedman)
We learned the tenants of Type A and Type B personalities and saw them in action — the A’s, that is. For example, Mary Ann and I hosted an annual dinner party in our home for 120 people on a Saturday evening shortly before Christmas, and we always had some food left over. She actually cooked the turkeys, hams, briskets, etc. along with her famous party potato casserole, and I served some delightful wines. Since there were always some leftovers, I asked Doug Kerr, our Type A group leader, if he thought we might to have the group over with their wives on that Sunday evening so that we could share our delicious leftovers. He said that we would bring it up at our next session, but to be prepared for a big surprise.
He was correct. The group took charge of our offer and turned it to their own purposes. They said that they attended many holiday parties, but would love to come in mid-January when things were slower. That was not the invitation, but we went ahead anyway and hosted the group a month later than we wanted. We ate the leftovers ourselves. During the party, one of our guests went into our kitchen and sharpened everyone of our knives. Type A’s are driven.
Finally, some years later, one of our group died, and we all attended the funeral. I think that given the individuals, it was amazing that we lasted that long. We did learn to watch our health! One characteristic of some cardiac diseases is darkening around the eyes. When I mentioned this to my friend Norm, I noticed him shortly thereafter looking at himself in the mirror. A week later, he was diagnosed with a cardiac issue and to this day credits me with saving his life. Another of our group contracted Hepatitis C from his hospital work It was amazing to see how yellow his skin became and more incredible to see him survive and become somewhat healthy again.
Members of the group also energetically pursued philanthropic activities. Oner man travelled to Russia with his wife for many years, helping orphans. He did a lot of good. We saw him again when we had luncheon in Scottsdale some time later. We also had a group of Jewish friends who would sing carols at our hospital and give out candy canes on Christmas day. They invited us along, since we knew the words! I went into a darkened room and put a candy cane on a table next to the bed of what appeared to be a corpse, so as not to disturb. As I left the room, I heard a faint ”Skip,” and it turned out to be one of my favorite fellows from our group. He had come very close to death.
Some of our discussions became quite emotional, and I had the opportunity to see some very successful men cry while discussing their lives. I had previously known many members of our group, including my insurance agent and another fellow from my office building, but most had been strangers. We all met annually after our group disbanded. Did you ever try to herd cats? That is what it was like to get this group together, and it seemed to be my self-appointed job to do so. We never knew if there would be three or ten in attendance, which made it difficult to attract a host. Our final dinner was some years ago with three members in attendance. Only a couple of them remain in contact today. Some moved away, and the others did not respond to my annual ”roll call” to see who remained on this side of the sod.
My recent experience with coronary “events” reminded me of what I learned in the group launched by Meyer Friedman. I was always grateful that I joined this group. Friedman’s research with colleague Ray Rosenman became controversial, partly due to funding by the tobacco industry and partly due to new thinking about the link between Type A personalities and coronary disease. These two cardiologists are credited with clarifying how an individual’s mental health affects physical health, providing a foundation for development of the health psychology field.
If you would like to know more about Meyer Friedman, try this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_Friedman
