Previous: HIV-Specific Peer Therapies
Individual Therapy
Back to the document's frontpagePrivate sessions with a psychologist or addictions therapist can help the recovering HIV positive addict to develop a sensible relapse prevention strategy, as well as to deal with many of the issues surrounding abuse and disease progression, and to continue to work through the psychological issues associated with both abuse and declining health.
The therapist or councilor working with the HIV or AIDS patient must be fully informed and educated about the mental health issues facing this sub group of addicts and must be aware of the interaction between mental health and AIDS HIV, the exacerbation of mental health issues through abuse, and the possible interactions of HIV AIDS medications and mental health and substance abuse.
Because disease progression can induce changing psychological issues, the therapist or psychologist must be prepared to continually re diagnosis and respond to emerging issues throughout the course of treatment.
Complete abstinence is not considered to be a reasonable goal when faced with the marked cognitive declines of the later stages of AIDS, and the therapist or psychologist must determine whether a harm reduction or abstinence model is preferable for the individual patient.
Essentially, the therapeutic goals are similar, but the underlying complexity of the treatment is increased, and therapists not educated to the challenges and complexities of HIV and AIDS, may not accurately diagnose or recognize certain pertinent issues.
