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Abstract
The psychodynamic factors which underlie an irrationally exaggerated fear of AIDS have been scantily explored in the literature. The present paper offers three in-depth case studies of uninfected men who were plagued with AIDS-phobic anxieties. It is the author's contention that, in each case, the symptom was in part a compromise formation that resulted from unconscious conflict and that a psychoanalytically-informed psychotherapy was helpful in resolution of the anxiety. Conflicts over aggressive impulses and unresolved guilt over homosexual feelings were predominant themes in these patients. The paper also presents a differential diagnosis in these patients for AIDS phobia and a review of alternative treatment strategies.