In a review of The Folly of Fools, Oren Harman homes in on author Robert Trivers’ suggestion that “the strain associated with lying, even unconsciously, takes a toll on the immune system”:
Trivers cites studies that show that people who write about their trauma can improve their immune function; indeed, emotional disclosure is associated with consistent immune benefits—this is one of the reasons that going to a shrink might make you feel better. The converse holds as well: HIV-positive patients who deny that they are infected show lower immune function than those who admit it, and tend to suffer from more rapid progression of their disease. Truth seems to be healthy for us. On those grounds alone, Trivers writes, “don’t ask, don’t tell” should be considered an immunological disaster.
That’s why I came out as HIV-positive when I did. I knew I had to escape a new closet in order to fight the disease with real vigor and confidence. I waited until I quit my job at TNR because the atmosphere about HIV was hysterical at the time and I did not believe the magazine needed that kind of attention; and I was horribly afraid of sympathy, or that people would pull rhetorical punches because, back then, everyone assumed you were on the way out. But as soon as I was liberated from that responsibility, my fight-back against HIV was put on steroids (literally and figuratively). And I believe it really did matter. Shame kills; as does despair and fear, when combined with a lethal immune system virus. It’s important to get tested and to tell others of your HIV infection – if you want to survive and thrive. It’ll be twenty years of survival for me next year. It feels like forty, but I’m still blogging.
The Dish 