Contact: David Lydston
Phone: (305) 243-2103
Email: dlydston@med.miami.edu
Embargoed until: March 16, 2002

BARCELONA, SPAIN-- Can group therapy impact the disease process of a woman living with AIDS? This study from the University of Miami suggests that the viral load of women living with AIDS can be altered as a result of group therapy intervention.

That was one outcome of the National Institutes of Mental Health funded SMART/EST Women's Project, under the direction of Stephen Weiss, Ph.D., MPH. from the University of Miami School of Medicine. Results of this study were presented at the American Psychosomatic Society Annual Meeting, held March 13-16 in Barcelona, SPAIN, by David Lydston, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Miami.

The Stress Management And Relaxation Therapy/Expressive Supportive Therapy Women's project was commissioned to test the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on quality of life amongst women living with AIDS. A pilot study of 52 women specifically examined the impact of the group therapy on HIV disease status.

The results of the study show that women who participated most actively in the group therapy condition and who demonstrated increased usage of newly learned skills showed significant decreases in the amount of HIV viral load in their blood as compared to the individual control condition who showed increases in viral load.

Future research is needed to determine whether this finding is a direct result of the therapeutic intervention or an indirect effect (e.g. increased antiretroviral medication adherence).

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