From primary prevention to end-of-life care, AIDS psychiatry can make significant contributions to preventing risk behaviors and HIV transmission, mitigating suffering, and improving adherence to risk reduction and medical care. Early in the epidemic, stigma and discrimination magnified suffering and excluded persons known to have HIV and AIDS from many settings in the United States and throughout the world. Such treatment of persons with AIDS was described (Cohen, 1989) as a new form of discrimination called “AIDSism.” As we approach the end of the third decade of the HIV pandemic, in most countries education, training, and experience have mitigated AIDSism, and persons with HIV and AIDS are now seen in varieties of medical and nonmedical settings. The multimorbid medical and psychiatric illnesses associated with HIV infection have complicated the care of persons with HIV and AIDS. A primary care guideline for the care of persons with HIV is available in print (Aberg et al., 2009) and online and is updated regularly at: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/page/cid/IDSAguidelines.html. AIDS psychiatrists, psychosomatic medicine psychiatrists, as well as child, adult, and geriatric psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are in a unique position to intervene and provide both preventive and treatment interventions for children, adolescents, and adults who are vulnerable to, infected with, or affected by HIV infection. Psychiatrists generally make long-term and trusting relationships with their patients and take complete histories including sexual histories and substance use histories. Primary physicians, pediatricians, obstetricians, and HIV specialists as well as parents and teachers may also have unique opportunities to intervene throughout the life cycle. In this chapter, we provide a list of settings where educational opportunities abound and can lead to an improved understanding of how to prevent HIV transmission. These settings are summarized in Table 1.1. Since a full description of every setting with potential for intervention is beyond the scope of this chapter, we provide more specific descriptions of settings where providing education and easy access to testing, condoms, and drug and alcohol treatment can be therapeutic and lifesaving.
1993 Revised Classification System for HIV Infection and Expanded AIDS Surveillance Case Definition for Adolescents and Adults
