Psychotherapy in HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS is a condition in which the immune system of the patient gets impaired and does not function properly so that the opportunistic infections occur in them which often causes mortality. It is caused by a retro virus which gets transferred through unprotected sexual intercourse with the person having the virus, through intravenous drug use, infected blood transfusion and other similar methods. Being infected with HIV is traumatic for the patient because the treatment of this disease is still in infancy they have to face lots of challenges in the treatment process. It creates an emotional and financial turmoil not just for the patient but for the whole family. Empirical and clinical work has shown that patients with HIV/AIDS experience lots of emotional and psychiatric issues. In India, these issues are often not focused by the treating physicians. However, recently these areas are being targeted and emotional and related issues faced by these patients have become the focus of interventions by the treating team. The current paper will focus on the various psychological issues faced by HIV/AIDS patients and psychological interventions which can be used to work on these issues. Since HIV/AIDS causes multitude of medical, psychological, social, economic and spiritual issues in the patients, holistic and biopsychsocio spiritual model of intervention need to be followed for better recovery and quality of life of these patients.