Paper Title
The Impact of Counseling on Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Hiv/Aids Patients and Their Caregivers

Abstract
The diagnosis of HIV is an extremely distressing event in the lives of an individual, with its multiple implications such as psychological, social and physical. Psychosocial responses of fear, denial, stigma and discrimination have accompanied the HIV epidemic right from the time it was first discovered in the human society. The present study was planned & conducted with the aim of assess and compare the impact of counseling in relation to depression and suicidal ideation. In all a total number of 300 participants were included in the study (HIV negative [n= 50], positive [n= 50] and AIDS cases [n= 50] and their caregivers [n= 150]). 150 were males and 150 females; age range was 20 years to 48 years. For the assessment Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (Hamilton, 1967) and Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (Reynolds, 1988) was used. Results revealed that the mean depression score of HIV negative cases was 2.94 (SD= 2.07) and the HIV positive 29.54 (SD= 5.36) where as AIDS cases 26.10 (SD= 4.22). Analysis of variance revealed that all the three groups (i.e., HIV negative, HIV positive and AIDS) differed significantly, (F=616.90, df = 2, 147, p < .01). Counseling significantly reduced depression, suicidal ideation, family burden and had significantly impact in improving the health and quality of life of HIV positive, AIDS cases and their caregivers. Keywords - HIV/AIDS, Counselling, Depression and Suicidal Ideation