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On Not Traumatising the Traumatised: The Contribution of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy to Work with People with HIV and AIDS
Author(s) -
Ratigan Bernard
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
british journal of psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1752-0118
pISSN - 0265-9883
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0118.1991.tb01156.x
Subject(s) - psychodynamics , unconscious mind , psychosocial , psychology , psychotherapist , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , psychodynamic psychotherapy , sketch , psychiatry , psychoanalysis , medicine , family medicine , algorithm , computer science
SUMMARY The incidence of HIV and AIDS is increasing in Britain. Many of those affected are subjected to, and subject others to, powerful psychological pressures. Hitherto, the psychological care of such patients has been much influenced by cognitive‐behavioural approaches and only more recently have psychodynamic insights been brought into focus. This paper reports psychotherapeutic work undertaken both directly with HIV and AIDS patients, their partners and families and with clinical teams providing medical care. The paper attempts to begin to sketch out a map of the psychodynamics of HIV and AIDS to encourage a better understanding of how clinicians can be helped to understand how psychosocial attitudes can be passed on to patients in the form of unconscious attacks and how patients can cause severe acting out on the part of clinicians as they try to resolve their own unconscious conflicts over their illness.