From isolation towards intimacy: healing emotional wounds in HIV+ gay men

Abstract

HIV is more than a virus affecting the immune system of millions of people. Its main modes of transmission – sex and intravenous drug use – have turned it into one of the most stigmatised health conditions, adding layers of shame and marginalisation to everyone who becomes infected.

This paper is a presentation of aspects of the research I conducted for my MA thesis in 2015, wherein I explored intimacy in interpersonal relationships between HIV+ gay men. The research was conducted over 8 months, with 25 participants, in 4 different therapy groups, and used quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The paper will focus on the findings associated with a body and movement-based technique I developed, whose aim was, and is, to support gay men’s experiences of emotional and intimate wellbeing, in the short and long-term aftermath of an HIV diagnosis. It will also include insights and observations gained through subsequent clinical experience in this field, particularly the idea that HIV may be therapeutically and emotionally perceived as a catalyst for change. I will demonstrate how dramatherapy was also a catalyst for healing and encouraging emotional intimacy in the participants’ relationships with each other, and themselves.

Keywords:

• HIV
• gay men
• intimacy
• emotional wellbeing
• relationships
• body and movement
• Dramatherapy