Psychological features of HIV-infected patients depending on the stage of the disease

Abstract

The relevance of the problem. Currently, the issue of HIV infection is acute all over the world, and the variety of HIV clinical forms is striking in its vastness and congruence with other pathologies. Among Russian and foreign publications devoted to psychological changes in patients with HIV infection, there is a lack of works on the relationship of their levels of resistance to the action of stress agents, the effectiveness of the formation of protective and compensatory behavior with differentiation by spheres (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral), and the absence or presence of alexithymia of varying degrees of severity in their personal psychological type with self-assessment of wellbeing, the severity of infection, and the presence of complications. The purpose of the study: to identify and compare the psychological characteristics of the personality of HIV-infected patients, depending on the stage of the disease. Materials and methods. We observed 150 male and female volunteers (83 and 67 patients, respectively), whose mean age was 37.5 (33.9; 42.1) years, living in the city of Saratov and the Saratov region. The patients were divided into three groups depending on the stage of the disease: Group I — the patients with HIV infection in the incubation stage (Stage 1 — incubation), Group II — the patients with steadily progressing HIV infection (Stage 2 — stage of primary manifestations and Stage 3 — subclinical); Group III — the patients with continuing HIV replication, accompanied by the death of CD4+ lymphocytes and the depletion of their population to zero (Stage 4 — stage of secondary diseases and Stage 5 — terminal). The patients were followed up at the public health institution Saratov Regional Clinical Center for AIDS Prevention and Control. Results. The following patterns, confirmed statistically, were revealed: the lower the resistance of the patients to the action of stress agents was, the higher their anxiety was and significantly more often both the tendency to alexithymia and its obvious clinical signs were revealed. Thus, it is advisable for all patients, regardless of the stage of progression of HIV infection, to determine the levels of stress resistance, since with a decrease in this indicator, their level of anxiety increases, a tendency to alexithymia appears, and sleep disturbances, mood disorders, memory impairment, and decreased performance occur, in contrast to patients with high stress resistance.