A Study to Evaluate the Impact of Supportive Psychotherapy in the Cases of HIV/AIDS

This study was aimed to evaluate the impact of Supportive Psychotherapy in the alleviation of mental ill health and adjustment problems of recently diagnosed HIV/AIDS positive people. For this purpose, a total of 40 patients were selected, Supportive Psychotherapy was provided to the participants after baseline assessment and two follow-ups at 15 days interval each were taken. The tools which were used in present study were Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire (MHQ) by Srivastava and Bhatt and an Adjustment Inventory by Tripathi. A paired sample t-test was conducted and, there was a statistically significant decrease in mental ill health scores from baseline assessment to first follow-up and from first follow-up to second follow-up 26.63, and the same trend was found in the case of adjustment problems which compared with baseline assessment to first fallow-up and from first follow-up to second follow-up. We can say on the basis of the results that Supportive Psychotherapy is quite helpful for the HIV/AIDS positive people to cope with their mental ill health and adjustment related problems after the diagnosis of the disease and to improve their quality of life.