Dealing with AIDS and fear: would you accept cookies from an AIDS patient?

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has engendered a crisis of fear among the public and health professionals alike. In addition to the myriad anxieties that generally accompany dying and death, AIDS patients must deal with numerous additional fears. In rushing to treat the physiologic aspects of AIDS, health professionals have generally failed to provide adequate support systems to deal with the emotional needs of dying AIDS patients. Health professionals must now move rapidly to develop support systems based on a realistic understanding of the fears and the other powerful emotions confronted by AIDS victims. Such systems must permit AIDS patients to give meaning to their adversity.