Paper Sample on Highly Stressed: Psychological Stress in People Living with HIV/AIDS in the US South

Reif, S., Mugavero, M., Raper, J., Thielman, N., Leserman, J., Whetten, K., & Pence, B. W. (2011). Highly stressed: stressful and traumatic experiences among individuals with HIV/AIDS in the Deep South. AIDS care, 23(2), 152-162. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3728698/

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The article explored the effects of psychological stress on persons living with HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted among 611 persons infected with HIV in the Southeastern US. According to the authors, psychological stress is a very challenging factor in coping up with HIV. Based on the results, many patients with HIV had many kinds of stressors that challenged their abilities to cope with the HIV/AIDS disease. In 27 months, the researchers determined the three incident stress measures' predictors, including traumatic events, severe stressful events, and all stressful events. About 91% of the participants reported experiencing at least one stressful event. The researchers determined the key causes of psychological stress in HIV patients to be stigma from people in the community, lack of adequate finances to support them, emotional distress, and substance abuse. The psychological stress affects patients with HIV in various ways. Some patients of HIV lose hope in living because of the psychological stress that they cannot control. Psychological stress affects the immunity of persons with HIV/AIDS because they develop a lack of appetite leading to poor eating habits. Once the patient does not eat well, their CD4 cells that fight infections in the body drop dramatically; therefore, they become unable to withstand the HIV infection. The strengths of this article are as follows. It gives information that psychological stress leads to poor health outcomes and can result in the poor quality of life among patients with HIV/AIDS. It is important to find ways of alleviating stressors to enhance healthy living among people living with HIV/AIDS. However, the article fails to determine the interventions that can control psychological stress and its effects on people with HIV/AIDS.

Schmitz, M. F., & Crystal, S. (2000). Social Relations, Coping, and Psychological Distress Among Persons With HIV/AIDS 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30(4), 665-685. (Google Scholar PDF). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02818.x

Schmitz and Crystal researched to examine the effects of psychological stress and social relationships on coping with HIV/AIDS. The study involved 212 participants who were patients of HIV/AIDS. By the use of structural equation modeling analysis, the researchers found indirect effects on psychological stress by the HIV symptoms that patients experience, discrimination due to HIV status, rejection by members of the family, feeling loved and understood, and avoidant coping. The identified factors triggered stress among patients living with HIV and led to various negative health effects of their health. The article is important because it helps reveal how psychological distress and coping behavior affect the health outcome of patients with HIV/AIDS. The article asserts that psychological stress does not enable patients with HIV to cope up with the condition effectively. It presents other closely related factors, such as how family members and friends' discrimination affects the patient’s ability to stick to desired behaviors for controlling HIV/AIDS. These factors have significant impacts on the control and coping with HIV/AIDS disease.

The findings of this research bear concrete similarities with the research done by Reif et al. (2011). Both articles agree that people living with HIV/AIDS experience several stresses that exacerbate the physical impact of the disease, cause depression, and increase the risk of morbidity and mortality. Psychological distress affects the eating habits of patients and compromises immunity and the ability to fight further infections. Therefore, psychological significantly hinders the ability of patients to cope with HIV/AIDS.

Rejection from family members further traumatizes people with HIV/AIDS. The way members of the family view HIV patients determines how well the patients cope with the disease. Patients undergoing rejection may have high levels of psychological stress that compromise their hope and action towards living a healthy life. As a result, many patients may resolve to engage in harmful behaviors that further increase the risk of morbidity and mortality.

Clark, R., & Clark, L. (1999). Traumatic stress in HIV-infected women. AIDS Edu. Prev, 11, 321-330. (Google Scholar PDF File).

The study investigates the effects of psychological stress on women infected with HIV/AIDS. The psychological stress and stressors were found to encourage the clinical progression of HIV/AIDS. Women who have HIV and prone to stressful events registered low CD4 and CD8 counts, indicating the vulnerability and quick progression in HIV infection. The study revealed that women who reported psychological stressors declined quickly in their CD4 to CD8 ratios that marks the clinical progression of HIV. The study found that women are highly susceptible to psychological stressors such as stigma from community members and post-traumatic stress disorders that lead to poor coping with HIV infection. Their susceptibility to psychological stressors is due to femininity and gender factors that make them vulnerable to many undesired acts. For example, women are weaker than men making them more vulnerable to sexual assaults than men.

Stress in people living with HIV, especially women, has critical effects on the way they handle HIV related measures. Clark and Clark (1999) determined the key psychological stressors as past traumatic experiences, including sexual assault such as rape and physical assault. Sexual assaults particularly increase the level of stress in women, making them traumatized. The traumatizing events reduce the capability of women in coping with HIV infection. Schmitz and Crystal (2000) also obtained similar findings on a group of 212 HIV patients whom they interviewed. Psychological stressors contributed significantly to people’s health outcomes by limiting the critical functioning of their bodies. The findings concur with those of Reif et al. (2011) that observed that stress affected patients' ability to eat well. The lack of proper eating habits reduces the immunity of a patient due to a decline in CD4 to CD8 ratio that indicates the clinical progression of the HIV/AIDS disease. Therefore, psychological stress hinders the ability of patients to cope with HIV/AIDS.

Sharma, B. (2014). Oxidative stress in HIV patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. Current HIV research, 12(1), 13-21. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261325780_Oxidative_Stress_in_HIV_Patients_Receiving_Antiretroviral_Therapy

Sharma provides some of the important facts concerning living with HIV amid stressful experiences. In his research article, the authors examined the effects of stress on HIV patients who receive antiretroviral therapy. Antiretroviral therapy is the most commonly used means of controlling the effects of HV infection and progression. Coping with the HIV/AIDS disease requires dedicated control of various factors associated with disease progression. In that matter, effective control on the diet of the patient is highly significant. The patient needs a balanced diet to provide a buffer for protective minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients that boost the body's immunity. The nutrients in food are important in the formation of CD4 t-cells that the body uses to fight foreign harmful disease-causing microorganisms.

The article explains some of the crucial facts about coping with HIV/AIDS disease. The research done by Sharma can be used to explain why stress affects patients who have HIV negatively. The research goes into an in-depth analysis to demonstrate what happens when stressors are included in the patient’s perspective. Clark and Clark (1999) mentioned some of the stressors that hinder coping with HIV among women. According to them, women undergo several stressful experiences imposed by factors of gender and femininity. The psychological stress due to sexual and physical assault played a critical role in undermining women's ability to cope with HIV/AIDS disease. Sharma (2014) pointed out some of the key issues related to stressors and HIV. The in-depth explanation based on a wide range of evidence from the study population cannot be underestimated. It answers several questions that could not be done by other works of research. However, this article fails to explain ways of curbing or eliminating such stressors.

Hand, G. A., Phillips, K. D., & Dudgeon, W. D. (2006). Perceived stress in HIV-infected individuals: physiological and psychological correlates. AIDS care, 18(8), 1011-1017. (Google Scholar PDF File).

The purpose of the study was to investigate how psychological stress and its correlates affect Persons with HIV/AIDS. Hand, Phillips, and Dudgeon (2006) examined various psychological and physiological stresses and their correlations and how they affect individuals with HIV/AIDS. According to authors, chronic exposure to psychological stressors leads to reduced immunity, increased HIV/AIDS symptoms, and hastened disease progression. The psychological stressors also contribute to anxiety and depression that make patients traumatized and unable to keep the hope of attaining good health. Depression hinders patients from performing necessary activities that improve good health, such as taking ARVs on time and adhering to the timelines prescribed by the doctor. Some patients abandon taking drugs due to the acute psychological stress they experience.

The article provides some of the findings similar to those of other researchers. The psychological stressors have been determined to the reason why patients living with HIV do not attain good health. Sharma (2014) and Clark and Clark (1999) both hold similar opinions concerning the effect of psychological stress on coping with HIV infection. The researcher pointed out that psychological stress undermines an individual's ability to observe a good diet and medical prescriptions, thereby leading to the progression of HIV/AIDS disease. This article's findings hold critical significance because they explain various correlations of psychological stress that can be controlled to improve coping with HIV by patients. However, it fails to explain how these psychological and physiological correlates can be controlled to boost coping with HIV.

References

Clark, R., & Clark, L. (1999). Traumatic stress in HIV-infected women. AIDS Edu. Prev, 11, 321-330. (Google Scholar PDF File).

Hand, G. A., Phillips, K. D., & Dudgeon, W. D. (2006). Perceived stress in HIV-infected individuals: physiological and psychological correlates. AIDS care, 18(8), 1011-1017. (Google Scholar PDF File).

Reif, S., Mugavero, M., Raper, J., Thielman, N., Leserman, J., Whetten, K., & Pence, B. W. (2011). Highly stressed: stressful and traumatic experiences among individuals with HIV/AIDS in the Deep South. AIDS care, 23(2), 152-162. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3728698/

Schmitz, M. F., & Crystal, S. (2000). Social Relations, Coping, and Psychological Distress Among Persons With HIV/AIDS 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30(4), 665-685. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02818.x

Sharma, B. (2014). Oxidative stress in HIV patients receiving antiretroviral therapy. Current HIV research, 12(1), 13-21. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261325780_Oxidative_Stress_in_HIV_Patients_Receiving_Antiretroviral_Therapy