Describes how HIV-AIDS has evolved into a disease of families with children as well how substance abuse compounds the mental health challenges of this disease. A literature review suggests that women substance abusers often are trapped in a spiral of escalating drug use, compounded by life histories of severe trauma, and that children born to drug-addicted parents are exposed to many negative effects of their parents’ drug use. HIV often strikes those families who are already struggling with the overwhelming problems associated with substance abuse, impaired parenting capabilities, high rates of psychiatric disorder, and multigenerational histories of victimization and trauma. Research identifies particular problems for these HIV-affected families, including: (1) the tendency for HIV-infected women to experience higher rates of psychological stress than HIV-infected men; (2) the risk that the stress of an HIV diagnosis will cause women battling drug addiction to return to or escalate drug abuse; (3) inadequate communication about HIV illness and absence of planning for children’s future care; (4) the danger to which children are subject when parents develop AIDS-related psychiatric disorders; and (5) the way in which the progression of HIV in a child can be misinterpreted as bad behavior.
