In the current literature, there have been a number of articles on group therapy with individuals who have contracted the HIV virus. For example, Gambe and Getzel (1989) have noted that the contraction of AIDS produces a crisis wherein existential questions and issues become dominant. In their work with gay men who have AIDS, the authors noted that therapy is maximally effective when it: (1) addresses itself to existential issues; (2) operates to provide peer support; (3) focuses on the development of more effective problem-solving and coping skills; and (4) responds to the emotional and health crises that AIDS patients experience as a result of the progressively debilitating nature of the disease.
Shernoff (1990) has examined therapeutic processes for HIV-infected drug users, gay men, and bisexual men. He notes that listening and encouraging clients to discuss their pain has been associated with the remediation of both the isolation and the sense of shame patients often experience upon discovering that they have contracted AIDS.
Shernoff, unlike some therapists who feel that an acceptance of the inevitability of progressive disease followed by death is an important element of therapy, feels that hope must be encouraged in AIDS clients. He also points out that therapeutic efforts are not fully meeting the needs of clients or the community if clients with AIDS are not instructed in such practices as using condoms and cleaning needles.
Beckett and Ruttan (1990) have noted that in their psychotherapy groups with homogeneous AIDS and ARC patients, one of the most important issues concerns building, in group members, an understanding of their symptomology. Also, the authors state that it is important for patients to reconsider their priorities and to confront the ethical and moral dilemmas that often attend contraction of the HIV virus.
Beckett and Ruttan also note that AIDS groups have special issues that must be addressed...