COPING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS IN WOMEN WITH HIV AIDS

The relationship between coping strategies and anxiety and depression was investigated in 29 women patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, at a psychiatric AIDS clinic. The women were divided on the basis of risk f actor, intravenous drug use (IVDU), and nonintravenous drug use (non-I VDU), and coping strategies were compared. Based on a battery of psych ological tests, the coping strategies of self-blaming denial, wish-ful filling fantasy, emotional expression, and threat minimization were si gnificantly related to greater anxiety and depression. There was no di fference in coping strategies between the IVDUs and non-IVDUs, and non e of the coping strategies employed appeared to be associated with les s anxiety or depression. This may have been due to the psychiatric AID S clinic sample, possibly representing the more distressed group of HI V/AIDS patients, for whom coping strategies were overwhelmed.