Psychosocial Reactions of Persons With the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Assessing and achieving readiness to initiate HIV medication

“…Theories of readiness specifically developed for HIV (n = 2) [36,37]; Factors influencing readiness (n = 4) [38][39][40][41]; Tools to systematically assess readiness for HIV treatment (n = 5) [42][43][44][45][46]; Interventions to increase readiness for HIV treatment (n = 4) [39,45,47,48].…”

“…There have, however, also been some theories specifically developed for HIV. One of these theories describes the stages of illness progression in HIV/ AIDS [36]. This theory suggests that HIV patients travel through four psychological stages during their illness.…”

Psychiatric Aspects of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

“…In our clinical experience at the George Washington University ALS Center, these patients with suboptimal adaptation may require more guidance and proactive treatment to help them transition through the various stages of illness. In summary, we have presented Table 1, an adaptation of the work of Nichols [30], which originally identified four stages of psychological adaptation to medical illness. We have expanded upon this idea and added ALS physical markers that are likely points of transition.…”

“…In MDD, cognitive outlook, guilt, and negative expectations for the future are common findings. With normal sadness, the patient will be able to maintain a perspective on his or her environment, and most importantly, the emotion will change as the patient works through the various stages of adaptation to serious illness [29,30]. Depending on the timing of administration, the use of scales alone could overestimate or underestimate the prevalence of depression.…”

“…ADL-activity of daily living; ALS-amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; BiPAP-bilevel positive airway pressure; DNI-do not intubate order; DNR-do not resuscitate order; IADL-instrumental activity of daily living; PEG-percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (Adapted from Nichols [30]. ) found no significant association between PAS and a history of depression, the use of antidepressants, or symptoms of depression, according to the physician.…”