Mental Health Implications of New HIV Treatments

Abstract

This chapter overviews the emotional and mental health aspects of combination therapies for HIV patients. Without the benefit of published empirical research, we discuss the psychological ramifications of promising new treatments. Much of our review is guided by the nonempirical literature and emerging clinical experience. First, we examine issues involved in the complex decision making concerning when to initiate combination antiretroviral therapies. Second, we examine how the demand for combination therapies, coupled with their cost, raises concerns over who will access new treatments. Third, we explore evidence for how combination therapies have affected the hope and optimism of people living with HIV/AIDS, including their ability to return to work, reevaluate relationships, and redefine themselves as persons living with HIV/AIDS. In contrast, we discuss the psychological implications of failure of combination therapies. We then turn our attention to the potential effects of combination therapies on the sexual practices of people with HIV/AIDS and those at risk. Finally, the implications of combination therapies for mental health services are considered. We begin by briefly describing the psychological dimensions of HIV's disease trajectory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)