Counseling Chemically Dependent People with HIV Illness

Counseling Chemically Dependent People with HIV Illness describes frontline clinical treatment of HIV-infected chemically dependent persons. It provides a realistic view of what the daily work with this population is like. Specific, in-depth case examples and material give readers a solid understanding of how to work more effectively with chemically dependent clients infected with HIV.

By concentrating on practical instead of theoretical aspects of treatment, this groundbreaking book helps practitioners better understand problems in treatment and shows different ways treatment can be given. Authors discuss and describe methods they use such as group work, drug and AIDS education, treatment teams, and the harm reduction model. Chapters address work with specific patient populations with the dual diagnosis of HIV and chemical dependency and describe treatment in a variety of modalities, such as outpatient, residential, or hospital setting.

This timely book also includes helpful background material which introduces the complexities of work with this population through the story of one man’s struggle with AIDS and alcohol and drug addiction. Counseling Chemically Dependent People with HIV Illness also describes medical symptoms and problems of HIV-positive persons which gives non-medical counselors and therapists a preliminary understanding of what their patients may be undergoing physiologically. Other chapters focus on such topics as work with adolescents, short term group work in hospitals, HIV-infected persons on methadone maintenance, effective AIDS prevention with active drug users, and countertransference in professionals working with chemically dependent HIV clients.

One of few books to address specifics of counseling and therapy with this difficult population, Counseling Chemically Dependent People with HIV Illness is an extremely valuable and helpful guide for substance abuse counselors, certified alcoholism counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers working in the chemical dependency field.