PSYCHOLOGICALLY WORKING THROUGH HIV-INFECTION AND THERAPY MOTIVATION IN HIV-POSITIVE POLYTOXIC INPATIENTS

The intrapsychological process of working through the five stages of d eath in terminally ill patients (according to Kubler-Ross) was documen ted by videotaping semistructured interviews. There were 67 i. v. drug -dependent polytoxic HIV-positive inpatients. An inquiry was also made into their social niveau, the course of their addiction, the patients ' legal status, and their previous experience with long-term therapy, Prevalent forms of working through the five stages of death could be e stablished with reason able reliability, and their influence could be determined on how the patients actually made use of offers of long-ter m therapy. The most important finding was that HIV-positive i. v. drug -addicted polytoxic patients started with a similar ratio of 1:3 in dr ug-free long-term therapy compared to HIV-negative i.v. drug-addicted polytoxic inpatients (n=71), In the group of HIV-positive i.v. drug-ad dicted inpatients their individual means of psychologically working th rough their illness, their legal status and their previous experience with drug-free long-term therapy seem to be relevant factors in positi ve therapy motivation. This should be kept in mind when methadone prog rams are discussed.