Hiv & Multiple Bereavement Syndrome

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Hiv & Multiple Bereavement Syndrome

HIV/AIDS and Multiple Bereavement: Is the psychological impact of multiple loss intensified by social factors?
The advent of AIDS has created a new population of people who suffer multiple bereavements as well as threats to their own lives. (Murray-Parkes, 1998, p. xii)
The populations most affected by HIV/AIDS live in two geographical locations: the USA and Africa (WHO, 1998) . In 1997 four million people in the Sub-Saharan Africa were newly reported as having seropositive status (WHO, 1998). In North America this figure was 44 thousand (WHO, 1998). Seropositive rates among Gay men in New York City are reported at 36 to 67% (Dean L, 1995). Infection rates amongst young, urban males in Uganda range from 20 to 30% (Seeley & Kajura, 1995).
With these high figures and similar infection rates among males in mind, this essay will discuss the relationship between social factors and the psychological impact of multiple loss in an international context. The evidence I have considered principally comes from Uganda and the USA which will allow me to evaluate the commonality of experience and the usefulness of theories on multiple loss in differing cultural and economic situations.
The impact of the HIV virus is such that it creates ...a cycle of never ending perpetual grieving for individuals affected by HIV/AIDS and the professionals who care for them.' (Cho & Cassidy, 1994, p.274). Yet, there seems to be no significant relationship between the number of individual losses and the intensity of the grief experienced (Cherney & Verney, 1996; Cho & Cassidy, 1994). Cherney & Verney (1996) also found that there was no correlation between age and intensity of grief. This is unexpected since younger individuals are expected to show a higher intensity of reaction to grief (Sherr L, 1995).
Discussing this issue Ankrah (1991) and Seeley & Kajura (1995) suggest that young people may have become habituated to multiple loss because there is no cure for AIDS, & the people to become immoderately tolerant of death. Cho and Cassidy (1994) offer a different explanation. They believe that habituation might reflect a state of protracted grief rather than a tolerance of death. This argument implies that people may have become habituated to multiple loss, and made adaptive emotional responses.
This suggests that multiple losses influence the grief process. Cho & Cassidy (1994) found that those affected by HIV/AIDS showed common characteristi...

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