Don't Shut Me Out...HIV+ Parents Struggling with Disclosure

"I want to tell them to relieve the pain, the loneliness, the secrets, but I don't want to be rejected..." Rejection is but one fear explored in this short but powerful documentary, which presents eight parents who struggled or are struggling with disclosing their HIV status to their children. Also interviewed are several of the informed teenagers themselves. Along with an outside pediatric psychiatrist, the parents speak honestly and straightforwardly about their concerns before "the talk" and the benefits that accrued afterward. Nothing is sugar-coated: one mother's daughter did in fact reject her at first, and she tells us so. But it is the informed children who present the most eloquent "pro-telling" cases. Several of them mention how angry they were at not having been told sooner, and how a parent who tells is giving the child the opportunity to help see the parent through the disease. The psychiatrist explains that it is much better to tell your children when you are alive and doing relatively well, because you can help them deal with their fears in your own way, and answer their questions first-hand. This short video is full of genuine feeling and solid suggestions. Highly recommended. Aud: I, J, H, P. (K. Glaser)