HIV Infection and Its Effects on the Emotions

An excerpt from The Guide to Living With HIV Infection, provided with the permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press (2006). To purchase the book, click here.

• Anger and Energy
• Depression and Hope
• Fatigue and Accommodation
• Fear and Realism
• Uncertainty and Optimism
• Guilt and Self-Worth
• Change in Perspective

Nearly everyone with HIV infection has, to varying extents and at different times, reacted to the disease with anger, depression, uncertainty, fatigue, fear, and guilt. These feelings do not occur in stages; they come in no order. Some people have several or all of the feelings at once. All the feelings are part of human nature and are reasonable reactions to HIV infection.

They are also more or less unavoidable. That doesn't mean you need to live in the grip of, say, depression. It only means that the emotions are as real as the virus, and that no one has a solid gold, 100 percent rule for curing unpleasant emotions. Though the mental health professionals can be of invaluable help in learning to live with these feelings, the real experts here are the people with HIV infection. Much of this chapter, like chapter 1, is in the voices of those experts.

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This book excerpt has been provided with the permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Copyright © 2006 The Johns Hopkins University Press.