European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday. March 3, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 3 giant Art project for French dam a Node of Nan Tofoi shows what Frencha Tut Jean Marie Tartt Plant to paint on Tow tewa Din in the French Alp next Spring. Tie . Titled mighty will be 66 feel iride and 33 fee thigh and b expected la take 10 ions of paint. Pierre ays it will take three months to Complete. Aids suicides May be second epidemic Boston up scattered reports of aids re rated la Jades and attempted Euf cider Are emerging eras the nation and health authorities tear such problem nay become More common Ai the deadly disease infects increasing numbers of have a second epidemic said Peter Gold Blum a psychologist at the University of California Insan Francisco aids is not Only a medical problem it is also a psychiatric problem. Despair and anxiety Art epidemic. Suicide and suicidal thoughts have Long been a prob Lem associated with fatal and chronic diseases such 99 cancer. But experts say suicide May be More of a prob Lem with aids because of its social stigma. " aids is s metaphor for Many people for All the. Thing we Don t want to face in our society said or. Marshall Forstein a psychiatrist at Harvard medical school. Many researchers believe aids related suicide May become More frequent especially As the disease spreads infecting and killing More people and giving More people first hand experience with now aids Vic Tims die. Aids is in its infancy when it comes to full Flower and we have a million aids patients we Are going to have a lot More of these things to Cope with said Mono of University of California at san fran Cisco. The centers for disease control in Atlanta say thai As of feb. 9, there were 30,632 cases of aids in the United Stales of which 17,542 resulted in was Fin diagnosed in 1981 in los Angeles san Francisco and new York. Because the disease is so new and suicides in general Are difficult to document no one knows How Many aids related suicides have occurred or whether the risk of suicide is actually higher among people who have aids or related disorders or those who have tested positive for exposure to the aids virus. But stale and local health officials aids Counselor Sand suicide experts nationwide report cases of suicide and attempted suicide that raise questions about whether enough is being done to Deal with the psychiatric problems associated with acquired immune deficiency syndrome. It is something that creates a tremendous amount of stress and anxiety in an individual said Philip Carnu who counsels aids patients in new York City. Officials also report the following developments an Arizona Man was found dead and his wife unconscious in their Home last month after they too overdoses of barbiturates their suicide note said they believed they had aids a lest determined that the Man was not carrying the virus. In Massachusetts state health officials say 15 peo ple arc believed to have committed suicide Over the past 2vt years after testing positive for antibodies to the aids virus. In san Francisco As Many As a dozen individual with aids committed suicide in 1985. The san fran Cisco suicide prevention Center said it gets up to 100 aids related Calls each month. In Dallas a Man with aids jumped to his death from a Hospital window on March 24, 1986, officials did he was despondent because of his deteriorating condition in Rhode Island a state prison inmate with aids banged himself in his cell feb. 21. Maine and Colorado officials report at least two aids related attempted suicides Tennessee officials reported three successful suicides and officials in Ken Tucky reported three More. While stressing that the number of suicides is Proba Bly relatively Small especially compared to the loss of life associated with the disease itself mental health workers say the death illustrate the intense emotional Cost of the disease. The psychological aspects. Including depression and substance abuse Are a major aspect of aids said Goldblum the Issue is complicated by the fact that the virus that causes aids which destroys the body s ability to Light off infections can also affect the brain causing we talk to an awful lot of people who feel like they want to die or feel suicidal when they Are told Scott Brinkmier patients to act irrationally. Most agree that aids related suicide is because in is difficult to document. A gravely ill patient May simply take too much Medica Tion or Stop going to the doctor. Although one study found patients with arc aids Rel Ald Complex suffer the most anxiety experts say it is unclear which aspect of the disease Cre ates the most stress. But proposals to expand testing for exposure 10 the aids virus has focused attention on the emotional dangers involved in telling someone they arc infected. Most experts agree testing for aids is important Tollert people that they Are infected so they can help Stem the spread of the fatal disease already Asti maled to have infected 1,5 million americans. But Many maintain not enough Money is available to provide adequate counselling for those who test Posi Tive and to educate the Public and Correct misconceptions if testing is expanded. For most people aids symbolizes death and suf Fering said Goldblum. When a person is Given a positive result at least momentarily they Are con fronted with their own death. They have to ask is life Worth living now and will it be Worth living if i develop aids?1 s the most frightening thing is that the lest is not test for aids itself. In tact it is Only a test for antibodies to the virus that causes aids a positive result Only Means an individual has been exposed to the telling them their antibody status without any counselling or education is risking their mental health said Rodger Mcfarlane an aids educator in new York City. Basically you re giving that person a Hance to jump out a even if they understand the test the most difficult aspect about getting a positive result on an aids virus test is its ambiguity experts one knows what percentage of those who test positive will actually develop the disease they Wal around feeling like a time bomb said Mcfarlane. I m not saying it s easier to die than to worry about dying. But you can come to grips with a terminal Dis ease much better than with Brinkmier of the health crisis network in Miami while stressing he had no reports of suicides after positive test results said such thoughts Are com talk loan awful lot of people who feel like they want to die or feel suicidal when they arc told Sai Brinkmier. A study conducted by the Michigan health depart ment found that 28 percent of those who tested Posi Tive for the aids virus considered killing s Forstein said thai even if Many people Don t follow through with their suicidal noughts just considering that step can be psychologically damaging. Just because you Don t follow through with it does t mean it does t cause damage Forstein said. How do you quantify thai officials at blood Banks which test All donations for aids and the military which tests Alt applicants an members of the military stressed icy offer counselling to people they notify of positive test recognize this As being potentially serious in formation said Kenneth Holder a spokesman for military recruitment offices. Aids Counselor stress thai support groups counsel ing and education can make a i Terence. Nobody gels a certificate from god saying you re guaranteed 90 years of life said monsignor Fred ton Dalo. An orthodox Catholic Clergyman who counsels aids patients in it. Lauderdale Fla. When you gel them into a support group they begin to realize there were no guarantees beforehand the potential problem has spurred efforts through out the country including studies in new York and san Francisco to assess the extent of the current prob Lem and the risk. It s important because aids is a Public health problem of huge proportions said or. Mark Rosen Beig who studies suicide for the centers for disease control. If this happens to people after hearing that icy arc positive for the virus we re talking about a Jot of people who arc Ai
