Description
This paper examines the nature of Psychotherapy, determining its role in the hospital
settings, and presents the case of the role of counseling intervention among discordant
couples in NAUTH prep demonstration project. Four couples, who tested positive to HIV
due to pre-wedding investigation (three females, one male,) and two others, a male and a
female who tested positive following community HIV awareness, were followed for three
months: March – June 2016. The objective was to access the behavioural changes of these
clients in the process of enrolment to Prep. These clients were interviewed on four issues:
their concerns about positive status, feeling of guilt and stigma, suicidal thoughts and what
helped them to resolve their worries. One of the males was concerned about his health, three
of the females were concerned about their marriages, and one male had no worry. All of
them expressed feeling bad because of the stigmatization associated with the virus. Three of
them had suicidal thoughts, but were reassured of hope after counseling. All said counseling
helped them resolve their worries. Counseling /psychotherapy have been identified as sine
qua non for patients on HAART to achieve effective viral suppression and act as immune
boaster for patients on Positive Living.
