HIV Treatment: Mental Health Aspects of Antiviral Therapy

by Michael Shernoff, Raymond A. Smith

Largely in response to combination antiviral treatments, overall rates of AIDs deaths have dramatically decreased, but this change and the treatments themselves have created a new set of psychological and social challenges for those with HIV. This monograph is a primer for mental health providers working in this altered landscape. It describes the new treatment paradigm, the mental health issues it raises, and ways to help clients cope with the issues. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Paperback

First published December 28, 2006

About the author

He attended New York City schools. He graduated from the Harpur College at Binghamton University and in 1977 received a master’s degree in social work from the School of Social Welfare of the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
As a licensed clinical social worker, he offered outpatient mental health services in Chelsea in New York City. He also taught at Hunter College from 1991 to 2001, and from 2002 until his retirement in 2006 he served on the faculty of the Columbia University School of Social Work. From 1997 until 2004 he was the online mental health expert for the HIV/AIDS website TheBody.com.
He was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1982, but lived free of AIDS symptoms. At the time of his death from pancreatic cancer in Manhattan in June 2008, his brother Jeffrey Shernoff told The New York Times that he found it ironic that after years of living with HIV infection, "He died of pancreatic cancer, which may not even be related."