HIV Counseling

Abstract

HIV counseling offers an opportunity to provide information about HIV disease transmission and prevention, how to decrease behaviors that increase the risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV for persons who are HIV-infected or at increased risk for HIV infection, and available care and treatment options and partner services for those infected with HIV. Referral through counseling to access relevant medical, mental health, preventive, and psychosocial services can also reduce risk for transmitting or acquiring HIV infection. HIV counseling has been linked and integrated over the course of the HIV epidemic with HIV testing, and advances in HIV prevention and medical treatment have increased the importance of these services. HIV counseling may be particularly critical for individuals with severe mental illness (e.g., major depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder) who are sexually active and/or are abusing substances. Research has found that as a group, individuals with severe mental illness are at increased risk of contracting HIV. This elevated risk may be due to difficulties in processing information, leading to an inability to identify risky situations; reduced social competence including an inability to negotiate risky situations; an increased risk of partner violence which reduces the individual’s ability to negotiate the use of safer sex or safer injection practices; and/or co-occurring substance use, which can lead to impaired judgment.