Deafness and Psychiatric Illness

Abstract

Review of the literature concerning the relationship between deafness and psychiatric disorder reveals differences in the pattern of illness depending on the severity of deafness and the age of onset. In particular, the prevalence of schizophrenia in the prelingually deaf is similar to that found in the normal population, whereas the hard of hearing are over-represented among samples of patients suffering from paranoid psychoses in later life. Possible modes of action of long-standing hearing loss in the aetiology of paranoid illnesses are considered: the psychological and social consequences of deafness, the possible contribution of sensory deprivation phenomena, and the interference of hearing loss in attention, perception and communication. Finally, possible future lines of research are suggested.

A Review of Self-esteem of the Hearing Impaired Football Players

“…Therefore; it may be suggested that self-esteem levels of the hearing impaired football players who had different educational status were similar. When arithmetic means of self-esteem were evaluated; it was seen that mean self-esteem scores of all education groups were "moderate" [36].…”

“…When the data in the Therefore; it may be argued that self-esteem levels of the hearing impaired football players of different age groups were similar. When arithmetic means of self-esteem were evaluated; it was seen that mean self-esteem scores of all age groups were "moderate" [36]. According to the Table; when self-esteem scores of the hearing impaired football players were analyzed in terms of sportive age; it was detected that mean self-esteem score of those doing sports for 1-3 years was (Mean= 62.80), mean self-esteem score of those doing sports for 4-6 years was (Mean =66.07), mean self-esteem score of those doing sports for 7-9 years was (Mean =63.50) and mean self-esteem score of those doing sports for ≥ 10 years was Mean (=67.17).…”

“…In fact; it is reported that those who are subjected to hearing loss in old age suffer from paranoid psychosis more than the normal population [36] [38].…”

Homozygosity mapping in a family presenting with schizophrenia, epilepsy and hearing impairment

“…A link between deafness and schizophrenia has been described in the literature particularly in old age. 18 However, it is unlikely that the schizophrenia phenotype in the family is a direct result of deafness, as the onset is early and the symptoms of psychosis are episodic with good recovery between episodes. Furthermore, we argue that mutations in one or more genes located in the identified HBD regions interact with environmental or other genetic factors, giving rise to the variable penetrance/ expressivity of clinical features.…”

Sensory deficits and mental disorders of old age: causal or coincidental associations?

“…Although visual acuity in the better eye did not discriminate between the two groups, they reported a higher coincidence of hearing and vision impairment in the paranoid group than in the group with affective disorder. Discussing these findings, Cooper (1976) suggested that individuals with a relatively weak genetic predisposition for schizophrenia may resist the onset of illness until subjected to an accumulation of isolating circumstances (e.g. death, separation, or loss of mobility, vision or hearing).…”