ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of what is being practised in the field of HIV counselling and includes all forms of individual, couple, group, family, and systemic psychological interventions including psychotherapy and psychoanalysis under the rubric of counselling. There are dominant modes in the field such as cognitive-behavioural therapy and humanistic models as well as others which are less frequently encountered, especially those derived from psychoanalysis. Fortunately, it is now widely recognized that pre-and post-HIV test counselling, although sometimes extremely brief, is a skilled professional intervention and if done well can be of great benefit to the client. It can also act as an important screening mechanism for identifying where a client has pre-existing mental health or other problems, has an atypical adjustment reaction to a positive or negative test result, or is likely to have psycho-social problems during the course of the his or her HIV career.
