Emotional Distress From HIV

Getting a positive diagnosis for HIV can be devastating enough on your physical health. The symptoms alone can be incredibly difficult to get through, with fevers, headaches, muscle aches, and a sore throat getting the best of you. These flu-like symptoms may leave you sapped of energy, but you need to be able to push through them and be motivated to get treatment and comply with that treatment. Facing emotional distress from HIV, however, can truly get in the way of that. Positive mental health allows you to work productively and properly cope with life’s natural stresses, let alone the stresses of living with HIV. That mental health applies to your emotional, psychological, and social well-being, all of which can be impacted by the mental effects of HIV. This area of treatment should never be overlooked by a doctor and it’s actually something a New York City HIV specialist stresses a great deal.

As you begin to feel worse emotionally and psychologically, you will find that it’s harder to want to take medications on time, keep appointments, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. These are important steps to the treatment process and a New York City HIV specialist will keep checking in with you regularly. It’s important to get any mental effects treated effectively; it’s just as important as it is to treat the physical symptoms of the virus. Mental health counseling for HIV patients is a referral a New York City HIV specialist will typically make at the first sign of any psychological effects.

Types Of Mental Effects Of HIV

Depression, mood disorders, and personality disorders can also arise as an effect of HIV. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s caused by the virus, but pre-existing conditions can become worse once a doctor makes an official diagnosis. The patient may feel bleak at the beginning of treatment and if that can’t be overcome, the treatment will be more and more difficult as time goes on.

If you’ve begun to notice a pattern of behavior and feelings indicating you may not be experiencing the same positive mental health you once did, it’s important to make an appointment with a New York City HIV specialist as soon as possible. The doctor will see you to get a gauge for what’s wrong and will refer you to a specialist who will be able to better counsel emotional distress from HIV. Living with HIV can be hard enough; don’t make it harder on yourself by not addressing any mental effects from HIV you may be experiencing. These mental effects are just as important as the physical ones and a specialist will know exactly what to do.

• What is HIV?Read More
• Finding an HIV specialistRead More
• Treatment and prevention of HIVRead More