Psychiatric considerations in children and adolescents with HIV/AIDS

The psychosocial impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease has been recognized since the beginning of the epidemic for affected adults, but there has been less focus on the impact of HIV on young people. Among HIV-positive (HIV+) adults, high levels of distress, psychiatric symptoms, and their associations with worse health outcomes were recognized early in the epidemic. Subsequently, many studies have focused on understanding the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms among HIV+ adults and on identifying effective treatments for these symptoms. Fewer studies have examined these symptoms and their treatments among HIV+ children and adolescents. This article reviews what is known about psychiatric syndromes among HIV+ youths, their treatments, and other psychosocial factors of concern to the psychiatrist when treating children and adolescents with HIV disease.