Menongue – Clinical psychologist Faustudo Augusto today advised people with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the city of Menongue, province of Cuando Cubango, to adhere to psychological treatment to ensure their mental health and strive for positive attitudes.
When speaking to ANGOP about the psychological consequences of HIV, Faustudo Augusto considered that regular psychology consultations could enable the patient to attend psychotherapy, in order to train their emotional intelligence, their skills and their self-knowledge to achieve control negative emotions.
The psychological consequences of HIV, according to the psychologist, include anxiety, fear, feelings of rejection and depression, as people with this condition often do not accept themselves and live closed in an environment and a period of mourning with themselves.
He added that the exaggerated feeling of guilt and frustration that leads them to take negative actions towards others, contributing to the intentional transmission to other people, also represent negative psychological consequences of the virus.
The provincial mental health supervisor also explained that the virus enters the individual's body to leave their immune system vulnerable and then turns into a disease, and HIV is just the virus that once penetrates the body, if it is not treated, can progress to AIDS, which is the disease.
He lamented that, due to lack of psychological support, patients tend to accept the virus when it is already in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) phase, in a very advanced state, after weakening a significant part of the main defense organisms.
He highlighted the need for synchronization between psychological treatment in conjunction with pharmacological treatment with regular and targeted taking of antiretrovirals.
On the other hand, he argued that society as a whole must actively participate in raising awareness about non-stigmatization and discrimination, as these are attitudes that lead to prejudice and the consequent emotional imbalance, factors that significantly affect the mental health of those with the disease.
“When a person goes through this situation or experiences HIV/AIDS, obviously in one way or another their emotional state changes negatively, even worse if they are not accompanied by a psychologist”, he highlighted, having reiterated the importance of carrying out consultations’ meetings with psychology experts.
He reported that he sees a number of people that can vary between five to ten people in consultation every day, with a higher prevalence among women, having reported the record of several cases of people who come and initially do not accept the disease, but after hard work are persuaded to accept and adhere to treatment.
Data collected by ANGOP shows that in 2023, 1,469 HIV-positive patients were undergoing treatment, compared to 2,695 patients in the previous period, with 33,616 people being tested, of which 1,904 tested positive. Of the people tested, in 2023, 14 thousand and 95 were pregnant women, of which 347 were positive. MSM/FF/PLB/DOJ
