The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, causes the terminal Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS weakens the body's immune system to a point where any ordinary infection, such as the flu or common cold, can cause death. Originally thought of as a "Gay-Man's" disease when AIDS was first prevalent in this country in the early eighties, AIDS is now recognized as a major crisis across the country among heterosexuals, in addition to the homosexual population of this country (Mays, Albee, & Schneider, 1989). And in recent years, the rate of occurrence of AIDS among America's youth has increased at an almost exponential rate.

After being diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, the patient is subject to many psychological conditions that are detrimental to his or her physical health, too. The patient may develop depression after learning of their illness. There is no current cure for AIDS, so someone with AIDS knows they will die soon. This knowledge of knowing there is no way out leads to the depression. The patient may also develop anxiety from trying to prevent any infection from invading his or her body because the infection may cause death. Another mental condition that may develop from illness is known as the "Health Belief Model." The "Health Belief Model" refers to the variables that predict behavior including the perceived susceptibility or vulnerability to a health threat, severity of consequences of a disease or health threat, effectiveness of protective actions, and costs of or barriers to protective actions. It also refers to cues to action, such as physician advice or symptoms, and demographic, structural, and social/psychological factors that enable behavior. Somebody with AIDS is effected by the "Health Belief Model" in a negative way because they're knowledge of their situation causes them to have a pessimistic outlook on their future (Mays, 1989).

Another psychological condition that is a negative consequence of AIDS is "self-efficacy". Self-efficacy of an AIDS patient refers to their perception of their inability to perform a behavior due to their lack of ability, effort, luck, or the difficulty of the situation. AIDS patients view themselves as creatures that do not have the capability to fulfill any task due to their failing physical condition. Their energy is drained and thus they feel they don't have the ability to carry out a task (Valdiserri, 1989).

One obvious negative physiological consequence of an AIDS patient is that he or she is going to die. This is because there is currently no cure for AIDS. Once a person contracts this syndrome, their health will not get better. Their immune system is broken down and deteriorated until finally, some sort of infection puts the sufferer out of his or her misery and causes death.

Having a prevention program based on the encouragement of abstinence is the best type of primary prevention to implement in the situation of the reduction of the spreading of AIDS. If you accomplish the objective of the prevention program by getting children to commit to abstinence, the chance of contracting AIDS drastically reduces because the children will not be having sex with numerous partners and sexual transmission is impossible.

One more psychological condition that has a negative effect on an AIDS sufferer's mental health is helplessness. Helplessness refers to the patient's perception of having little control over their lives. This may be due to the fact that they suffer fro

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Approximate Word count = 1915
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)