Elevated Suicide Rate Among HIV-Positive Persons Despite Benefits of Antiretroviral Therapy: Implications for a Stress and Coping Model of Suicide

The suicide rate remains more than three time higher among HIV-positive persons than in the general population. This finding highlights the need for an integrative conceptual model to inform clinical intervention & research in this population. In this editorial, the author proposes a stress & coping model of suicide risk in which vulnerability & resilience factors modulate psychological responses to precipitating events that increase suicide risk. (11 refs.)

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