Psychiatric Aspects of Patients with HIV Infection in the General Hospital

摘要

The study describes the psychiatric disorders found in 100 HIV-positive patients, in different stages of the illness, at the psychiatric consultation service of a general hospital in Madrid. Eighty-five percent of the sample fell within the intravenous drug addicts risk group, which coincides with the epidemiological characteristics of Spain’s HIV-positive population. The most frequently noted psychiatric diagnosis was substance dependence disorder (41), followed by organic mental disorder (29), adjustment disorder (15), and affective disorder (5). Fifteen percent of the subjects had depressive symptoms, and 11 expressed suicidal ideation. A follow-up conducted on part of the sample showed a development towards dementia, emphasizing diagnostic difficulties in the initial evaluation of these patient