AIDS is a very difficult disease to treat. In addition to treating the common symptoms of AIDS, it is also very important for medical professionals to provide psychological care to these patients, who will encounter a variety of psychological problems during the course of their illness. Most of the patients often react to the intractable nature of AIDS, death, social isolation, discrimination, etc. – including low self-esteem, despair, denial, anger, depression and suicidal tendencies. Different patients will have different psychological problems at different times of their illness.
Before providing appropriate psychological support to patients, clinical staff should first regulate their own mindset, understand AIDS correctly, not to judge patients’ lifestyles, not to discriminate against them in words and actions with ethical prejudice, and to respect them as patients with general infectious diseases. When the patient is suffering from systemic failure, insomnia, pain, inability to eat, etc., the clinical nurse should closely observe the changes in the patient’s condition and actively work with the doctors to give the patient the necessary supportive therapy. (some examples known to the patients) to fully stimulate the patients’ desire to live. During the treatment process, we explain patiently to the patients the importance and necessity of this treatment and build up their confidence in overcoming the disease, so that the patients will have enough psychological preparation to overcome the difficulties and actively cooperate with the treatment to achieve the best control of the disease, inhibit the replication of the virus and reduce the spread of HIV.