Sex Therapy Understanding the Implications of HIV Disease in Women

Recently, greater attention has been focused on the implications of HIV disease for women. This is coupled with a greater awareness that women are impacted in different ways physically, psychologi-cally, and socially by HIV infection or AIDS in comparison to men. In this article, counselors are urged to become knowledgeable about the many issues and stressors that women with HIV disease face. This article provides an overview of such concerns, including dis-ease characteristics, progression, and symptoms. In addition, psy-chological, social, and relationship concerns are identified in relation to parenting, intimate relations with partners, and family and friendship support. Over the past decade, the picture of the acquired immunedeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic has changed significantly. One of those changes has been the increasing number of women infected with or impacted by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes the development of AIDS. In the United States, it is estimated that the proportion of female adults and adolescents living with AIDS increased from 7 % in 1987 to nearly 23 % in 199