Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Medical overview
- 2 Cognitive disorders in people living with HIV disease
- 3 General principles of pharmacotherapy for the patient with HIV infection
- 4 Mood disorders and psychosis in HIV
- 5 Suicidal behavior and HIV infection
- 6 Anxiety disorders and HIV disease
- 7 General issues in hospital HIV psychiatry
- 8 HIV and people with serious and persistent mental illness
- 9 Psychotherapy
- 10 HIV and substance use disorders
- 11 Psychiatric issues in pediatric HIV/AIDS
- 12 Uninfected children of parents with HIV
- 13 Psychological issues faced by gay men
- 14 Women and HIV
- 15 Couples
- 16A HIV and cultural diversity
- 16B African Americans
- 16C Latinos and HIV disease
- 16D One heart, two spirit, and beyond: HIV and the people of the First Nations
- 17 HIV in prison populations
- 18 Legal and ethical issues
- 19 Psychiatrist as caregiver
- Appendix I HIV Counselling checklist for physicians
- Index
- References
9 - Psychotherapy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Medical overview
- 2 Cognitive disorders in people living with HIV disease
- 3 General principles of pharmacotherapy for the patient with HIV infection
- 4 Mood disorders and psychosis in HIV
- 5 Suicidal behavior and HIV infection
- 6 Anxiety disorders and HIV disease
- 7 General issues in hospital HIV psychiatry
- 8 HIV and people with serious and persistent mental illness
- 9 Psychotherapy
- 10 HIV and substance use disorders
- 11 Psychiatric issues in pediatric HIV/AIDS
- 12 Uninfected children of parents with HIV
- 13 Psychological issues faced by gay men
- 14 Women and HIV
- 15 Couples
- 16A HIV and cultural diversity
- 16B African Americans
- 16C Latinos and HIV disease
- 16D One heart, two spirit, and beyond: HIV and the people of the First Nations
- 17 HIV in prison populations
- 18 Legal and ethical issues
- 19 Psychiatrist as caregiver
- Appendix I HIV Counselling checklist for physicians
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
HIV infection presents a series of challenges to the psychotherapist, testing his or her ability to respond compassionately and sensitively. The psychiatrist will often benefit from a thorough working knowledge of the issues faced by people infected with HIV.
In most ways, people living with HIV do not differ significantly from other psychotherapy patients. The main differences are:
the ongoing possibility of crisis
uncertainty about the future
The complex nature of HIV disease expression, antiretroviral treatments and associated side-effects
the strong countertransference reactions these patients may evoke.
Therapists should try to adapt the psychotherapy method they are most comfortable with to the special needs of the person living with HIV. Although most forms of psychotherapy are likely to be helpful for people living with HIV, a psychiatrist's formulation of the case and knowledge of differential therapeutics should inform the method choice.
Due to its potentially fatal outcome, HIV disease has the effect of imposing time pressure on patients, which may serve as a catalyst for work in therapy and make brief models ideally suited to this group of patients. They may feel more comfortable doing one or more successive “pieces of work” in therapy as they progress through different stages of the illness and their needs change. On the other hand, with the advent of HAART, people living with HIV now have indeterminate life expectancies and may benefit from the insight and knowledge gained from open-ended psychotherapy.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- HIV and PsychiatryTraining and Resource Manual, pp. 153 - 169Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
References
- 2
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