mental health AIDS

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mental health AIDS is a quarterly biopsychosocial research update on HIV and mental health organized by topic area. Each issue also includes service program profiles and the newest resources (books, articles, Web sites) for clinical practice.

Spring 2008 Newsletter

Source: CMHS/SAMHSA

Tool Box: "For Whom the Tell Tolls: Curbing the Cost of Giving & Getting Distressing, HIV-Related News (Part 2)"

It is not only when clinicians must convey distressing news (e.g., deliver an HIV-positive test result) that their own coping mechanisms come into play. In the HIV-related clinical encounter, a clinician's coping mechanisms are also called upon when the client reveals distressing, if not traumatic, life experiences that precede and/or follow from the detection of that individual's positive serostatus.

Part 1 of this series tackled the terminology used to describe how clinicians are thought to be affected by their work with trauma survivors. The earlier tool box also summarized literature on recognizing and alleviating the dangers facing clinicians practicing trauma-related psychotherapy.

This concluding segment expands on the current state of qualitative and quantitative research in this area and offers emerging evidence for the positive consequences of this work for clinicians. In the view of some investigators, incorporating concepts such as vicarious posttraumatic growth and vicarious resilience into the professional vocabulary "might help clinicians to view themselves, their clients, and the work in new and empowering ways."

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