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Fall 2011 Issue of mental health AIDS Now Available

September 2011

The quarterly biopsychosocial research update on HIV and mental health, mental health AIDS, is sponsored by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is disseminated free of charge through the SAMHSA Web site.

The Fall 2011 issue features an article titled, “Positively Golden: Advances in Aging with HIV (Part 2).”

Part 1 of this series highlighted recent research findings on medical and neurocognitive concerns associated with HIV and aging. A characterization of “successful cognitive aging” with HIV was presented, as were performance-based measures to identify functional impairment attributable to aging and HIV and cognitive remediation strategies for use with people who exhibit cognitive decline while aging with HIV.

This concluding segment first describes a “positive aging” framework not specific to HIV infection; a strengths-based model of coping, along with three meaning-centered strategies grounded within this model: gratitude, forgiveness, and altruism; and then the infusion of “positive aging” concepts into qualitative and quantitative research on adults aging with HIV infection. The article also discusses the first controlled clinical trial to assess if an age-appropriate, coping improvement group intervention could benefit older adults living with HIV/AIDS who have depressive symptoms.

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