HIV/AIDS could be considered an incurable disease that fosters both health complications and discrimination or isolation to befall on the patient. People who are not familiar with the signs and symptoms of the disease, as well as its effect on the patient, would find HIV/AIDS patients as an epidemic that must be avoided at all costs due to the chances of being inflicted with just a touch. Some groups would even blame HIV/AIDS patients due to their influence on the country’s economic and social development. However, this negative outlook and deliberate attempt to blame HIV/AIDS patients to isolate them from society would only slow down the recovery of patients since people continue to treat them differently for contracting such disease. The psychological and the physiological effects of HIV/AIDS, although could be treated or regulated through medicine and therapy, can cause a greater damage in HIV/AIDS patients if society continues to isolate them and prevent them from facing the disease with the help of their families.
According to the International Labour Organization (2006), the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV fosters the development of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS, which destroys a person’s white blood cells that sustain the immune system. HIV/AIDS is often contracted by patients if they engage into heterosexual/homosexual sex frequently or they have engaged into intercourse with known HIV/AIDS patients. In addition, Donenberg and Pao (2005) stated that HIV/AIDS can also be contracted through high-risk sexual behavior while in their teenage years, and the use of drugs. Some HIV/AIDS patients are born with the disease if their parents are born carriers of the virus . After the transmission of the virus in the body, the HIV-positive individual undergoes clinical latency for a few years before the virus weakens the body, especially the immune system. According to estimates, the seroconversion of an HIV-positive patient to AIDS, whether from developing or developed nations, would roughly take up to 10 years to develop. Studies have shown that HIV/AIDS only showcases a few symptoms, which may vary per patient and may be mistaken as symptoms for diseases like influenza. In lieu of this fact, many patients do not easily realize that they are inflicted with HIV/AIDS unless they undergo a diagnostic test, and for some, they do not feel tired or hindered physically in performing their usual daily activities .
Once the effects of the seroconversion of HIV in the body are done, patients develop physical signs and symptoms that could determine if a patient is suffering from HIV/AIDS. Patients would start experiencing weight loss or wasting, and develop several infections like the pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, Kaposi’s sarcoma and tuberculosis. In addition, Rogers, Mijch, and Brotherton (2008) added that patients of HIV/AIDS would also contract shingles or herpes zoster (a painful skin rash caused by the varicella-zoster virus), anogenital warts (anal or genital warts), cervical carcinoma (mostly seen in women patients), and oral complications (such as oral hairy leukoplakia, and aphthous mouth ulcers). Patients also tend to showcase signs of pneumonia, toxoplasmosis (a parasitic disease that can spread throughout the body), Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and neurological complications (which may vary from slow mobility to the development of dementia) . The ILO stated that if a patient would not immediately seek treatment on HIV/AIDS once the physical symptoms occur, it is plausible that death would occur a year after AIDS is contracted. The ILO’s study also estimated that younger victims of HIV/AIDS tend to survive longer than others .
Aside from the physical aspect of contracting HIV/AIDS, the disease would be more dangerous especially in a psychological level. According to Kartikeyan (2007) a patient’s reaction upon contracting HIV/AIDS can result into psychological complications that may influence the patient’s recovery and treatment. From the beginning of the patient’s realization and confirmation of his HIV positive test result, the patient would immediately undergo an emotional shock, which may then lead to a myriad of emotions: from guilt, denial, and to frustration. Each level would constitute into various reactions, before it blows out of proportion. Patients, upon receiving their HIV diagnosis tests, would feel guilty and blame themselves over the result of the test. Some would deny the result and would not accept the result, resulting to the patient trying other institutions to check if the result was a fluke. Eventually, both the patient’s guilt and denial would result into psychological stress especially once the patient accepts his infliction. There are also tendencies in which people with HIV/AIDS separate themselves from those not afflicted with the disease. They see themselves as the infected “us” and the rest “them”. In most cases, HIV/AIDS becomes the turning point of their lives, which then influences their perception on how to live and decide. Eventually, it would lead to the patient succumbing to depression, withdrawal and isolation. Social stigma is sometimes blamed by many experts as a reason on why some patients tend to experience psychological stress due to their infliction .
Aside from this, Donenberg and Pao (2005) added that children inflicted with HIV/AIDS tend to show long-term psychological effects due to emotional deprivation, isolation and lack of familial support. Children with HIV/AIDS are sometimes left alone by their primary caretakers, growing up without love or support for their well-being, which is also the same with adult patients. Eventually, it results into anti-social behaviors, and negative disposition. Child HIV/AIDS patients also tend to showcase mental health problems, categorized through externalizing (exhibiting aggression) and internalizing (showing depression and anxiety) problems. Youth patients of HIV/AIDS which have externalizing problems tend to showcase risky behaviors like high unprotected sexual activity, prostitution and substance use. In some cases, young patients of HIV/AIDS also have problems communicating with others and immediately succumb to deviance and susceptibility to accept HIV/AIDS. If the patient has internalizing problems, they showcase low assertiveness and additional communication skills when it comes to talking about safe sex with their partners. Young HIV/AIDS patients also showcase low self-esteem issues and may subsequently be charged with behavioral or conduct disorders .
In addition, Gallego, Gordillo and Catalan (2000) and Siegel and Lekas (2002) specified other psychological disorders connected to HIV/AIDS. Notably, a high proportion of HIV/AIDS infected persons develop dementia or difficulty to conduct mental functions or madness and cognitive impairment, also known as the HIV-associated minor cognitive disorder. In HIV-associated dementia, patients tend to show lack of control over their cognitive skills and have problems observing, concentrating and processing information given. They would also have a hard problem communicating with their peers and analyze situations at will. Aside from dementia and cognitive impairment, acute stress is also an effect of HIV/AIDS, which would cause patients to immediately or uncontrollably release their emotions, such as guilt, anger, fear and despair. Sometimes patients would even entertain suicidal tendencies and high-risk activities like substance abuse or high-sexual behaviors. Some would also develop adjustment disorders such as anxiety, depression, and bouts of insomnia since the patient would be wrapped up over their ordeal and would try to accept their situation. Studies have noted that adjustment disorders tend to appear frequently in HIV/AIDS victims and are requested to appear in mental health services. Aside from this, affective disorders are also prominent in HIV/AIDS patients; however, the estimates regarding the people who acquire this problem varies. Affective disorders tend to appear only on 30-60% of HIV/AIDS patients. Some of these patients tend to exhibit manic symptoms and actions due to medicines, like antiretroviral agents, which could penetrate the patient’s central nervous system and influence their mental capacity. Anxiety is also frequent with HIV/AIDS patients and would often lead into bouts of panic and hysteria due to their condition. Other psychological conditions contracted by people with HIV/AIDS also include sexual disfunction, which is very common to HIV/AIDS patients around the globe; and psychotic disorders, which often develops on the late stages of the disease, most especially when the HIV virus reaches the end of the latency period. Personality disorders are also quite prominent with HIV/AIDS patients as a means for them to accept their situation. Finally, patients of HIV/AIDS cases also exhibit eating disorders that eventually affect their recovery from the HIV infection, adding more psychological trauma and discomfort to the patient .
Finally, with the psychological and physiological effects of HIV/AIDS in mind, there is a high chance that the patient would have a hard time adhering to their treatments. Siegel and Lekas (2002) explained that some patients tend to have difficulties keeping up with HIV/AIDS treatments due to the medication’s side-effects, the fear of the drugs affecting their system, the influence on the patient’s lifestyle and how it could lead into the unveiling of their situation to the public. In this end, both Siegel and Lekas agreed that many individuals with HIV/AIDS tend to prolong their treatments or undergo protease inhibitors which could regulate the virus from spreading throughout the body. Although there are bouts wherein patients can take medication-free intervals, some tend to create longer periods of “drug holidays”, which may be dangerous if it is prolonged. Studies show that patients who could not follow the treatment regime given to them may start feeling guilt and failure for continuing their treatment. While there are a few who are given a chance to keep up with their treatment, others become fearful and resigned to what lies ahead with the disease, death .
The problem regarding HIV/AIDS is a reality that must be given attention not just by the government and the health sector but also by the communities as they would play a key role in assisting patients to recovery. The public must be given brief but accurate education with regards to the identification of HIV/AIDS infliction, how it can be treated, and what must be done to aid those inflicted by the disease. HIV/AIDS patients must be given all the support that is possible and should not be isolated or dismissed given their infliction. They would need the support to stay strong over their treatment and at the same time, still be treated fairly by the public despite knowing they have HIV/AIDS. Without support, being scrutinized due to the stigma on AIDS, and the lack of education pertaining to the disease may increase risks of infliction by others and may lead to the deaths.
Works Cited
Donenberg, Geri and Maryland Pao. "Youth and HIV/AIDS: Psychiatry's Role in a Changing Epidemic." Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 44.8 (2005): 728-747. Print.
Gallego, Lucia, Victoria Gordillo and Jose Catalan. "Psychiatric and Psychological Disorders associated to HIV Infection." AIDS Reviews 2 (2000): 48-60. Print.
International Labour Organization. HIV/AIDS and Work: Global Estimates, Impact on Children and Youth, and Response 2006. Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2006. Print.
Kartikeyan, S. HIV and AIDS: Basic Elements and Priorities. Dordrecht: Springer, 2007. Print
Rogers, Gary, Anne Mijch and Alan Brotherton. "Signs and symptoms of chronic HIV disease." Bradford, David, Jennifer Hoy and Gail Matthews. HIV, viral hepatitis, and STIs, a guide for primary care. Darlinghurst: Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM), 2008. 63-70. Print.
Siegel, Karolynn and Helen-Maria Lekas. "AIDS as a chronic illness: psychosocial implications." Official Journal of the International AIDS Society 16.4 (2002): 69-76. Print.
