Lazarus Phenomena: an exploratory study of gay men living with HIV.

Based on qualitative data collected in 1999 in Dublin, Ireland and Providence, Rhode Island, this study examines psychosocial tasks for gay men with AIDS who are experiencing "Lazarus Phenomena," significant improvement in health and functioning as a result of current medication advances. The data showed a range of reactions, supportive of the literature on "uncertainty in illness," and suggesting that long term survival with AIDS requires an exceptional tolerance for ambiguity and an ability to reconstruct the future-skills which may co-vary with economic/career opportunities, social supports and individual resilience.