The Mental Paradox:Psychosocial Interventions and their Efficacy in the Treatment of Stress in STD-Infected Persons

Abstract

The adverse experience of persons infected with a sexually transmitted disease is one which can truly be deemed as multifaceted. The proliferation of both societal and self-stigma, mental and emotional health complications such as depression and anxiety, and intrinsic physiological sequelae exist as deeply impactful components of STD-infection. However, rather than solely existing as inherent components, they coalesce and contribute to the development of stress in this patient population. Many a time, this stress, arising from this combinative psychosocial burden, exerts subversive, yet drastic effects on both overall mental functioning and physiological outcomes, and in truth, acts as mediator of further decrements in overall health and well-being. As a manner of alleviating stress and the adverse effects which accompany it, psychosocial interventions such as cognitive behavioral stress management have proven to be efficacious on multiple fronts, bolstering improved physiological and mental health outcomes. These interventions, though mind-focused in their scope, exert a positive impact on the body. Despite this fact, present STD-treatment guidelines exhibit a strong emphasis on treating the physical component of disease solely and abstain from including psychosocial treatment modalities that target the mind. Such an occurrence, indicative of the biomedical system’s emphatic concern with treating the biological, contributes to the observation of decreased health outcomes as stress remains untreated. In the current work, we will not only establish a foundational understanding of the unique experience of the STD-infected individual, but we will expound upon both psychosocial interventions and their efficacy in treating stress in this community of persons. Through both an analysis of the existing literature, and the proposition of new methods of treatment, a proposal for the inclusion of psychosocial treatment modalities in present standards of clinical care is made evident.