Abstract
This article sets out guidelines for psychiatric practice prepared at the request of The Royal College of Psychiatrists. It gives an overview of psychosocial and neuropsychiatric problems in HIV disease, service implications and guidance on HIV screening and testing. Advice is given on the issue of confidentiality in relation to HIV status, the avoidance of infection and general recommendations for implementing the guidelines and the development of any necessary special policies or practices in Mental Health Units.
Highlights
The psychiatric implications of HIV infection make it likely that in the years ahead increasing numbers of individuals suffering from HIV disease will come into contact with the mental health services.The extent of the problem and its likely future spread suggest that the need for psychiatric involvement will not be restricted to the main metropolitan areas, and so a wider discussion of possible problems is desirable so as to anticipate and tackle potential diffi culties
Knowledge about the psychiatric implications of HIV disease is accumulating but it is clear that many questions remain unanswered, and that shifts in emphasis should be expected in the future
While many of the issues covered here would apply to children and adolescents, their particular clinical and practical problems would require separate consider ation
Summary
RICCIO,Lecturer in Psychiatry, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, Charing Cross Hospital, London; and CHRISTOPHETRHOMPSONP,rofessor of Psychiatry, Royal South Hants Hospital, Southampton
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