Individual Psychological Counseling Research Articles

Rehabilitation, sozialmedizinische Beurteilung und Beratung bei HIV-infizierten Patienten

An inpatient rehabilitation programme for HIV-infected patients is described. Since the early nineties some 1,200 patients with HIV infection have been treated in our internal and orthopaedic rehabilitation clinic. Beside internal and orthopaedic diagnostics, supporting compliance with antiretroviral therapy, motivating the patients for regular moderate exercises and specific nutritional counselling are major issues of the programme. From the psychological point of view, the patients are offered to aquire relaxation and stress coping techniques, to take part in non-smoking courses and to use individual psychological counselling in case of depression or panic. In addition, all HIV-infected patients are offered individual advice on their disease and necessary changes in lifestyle. Finally, the programme includes social medical evaluation and counselling. As the majority of the patients are still working or are of working age, evaluating the capacity for work and potential introduction of occupational rehabilitation measures are prominent. Almost 70 percent of the HIV-infected patients who had been treated in our clinic over the last few years were fully capable of returning to their previous occupation. Our experiences demonstrate that statements such as rehabilitation of AIDS patients being useless because of its missing prospects of success, are not up-to-date any longer. Since introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy many patients with HIV infection are able to return to their previous occupation if they receive the necessary medical und psychosocial support.

Effekte kombinierter therapeutischer Maßnahmen bei Patienten mit Psoriasis und atopischer Dermatitis

The present study examined the effectiveness of combined dermatological and behavioural medicine therapy on the skin status and disease-specific stress of eighty-six patients with psoriasis and fifty-eight patients with atopic dermatitis who were hospitalized in the PsoriSol Clinic, Hersbruck, Germany. In addition to receiving instruction about their stain disease, the patients were offered, practice in relaxation techniques, social contacts and scratching control as well as individual psychological counselling. The clinical change was assessed by PASI and SCORAD, respectively. The Marburg questionnaire for coping with skin diseases (MHF) and a questionnaire for health-related control attributes (GKU-S) served as psychometric measures. Patients showed significant improvement in skin status and psychosocial parameters in pre-post comparison. Social fears, avoidance and helplessness were reduced by significant improvement of the emotional status in both groups. Patients with psoriasis also showed an increase in internal control attributes. Dermatological treatment combined with behavioural medicine therapy can be considered an effective method in patients with atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.

A Holistic Health Approach to an Alcoholic Treatment Program

This article reports on The New Beginning, a residential treatment facility in Northern Virginia, which implemented an innovative approach to alcoholism treatment. To an established alcohol rehabilitation program holistic health procedures were added. The holistic components consisted of: (1) a planned nutritional program; (2) a regular exercise program stressing aerobic capacity; (3) a program of stress reduction through a Hatha yoga series of stretching exercises; and (4) weekend recreational pursuits. In addition, the traditional aspects of individual and family psychological counseling combined with regular attendance at Alcoholic Anonymous meetings rounded out the rehabilitation program. A George Mason University health education intern planned and implemented the fitness, recreation, and stress reduction components along with the revision of the nutritional approach. The intern worked in cooperation with the trained staff and had resident involvement in the outdoor parcourse development. The intern was placed at the New Beginning for a six weeks, 240-hour experience.