Psychologists can help hearing impaired people live the best possible life with a hearing loss.
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Psychological treatment primarily consists of therapy. There are other forms of treatment, such as hypnosis, visualisation or treatment you can do at home. Psychologists cannot prescribe medicine.
A session at a psychologist typically lasts between 45 and 60 minutes.
The number of sessions differs from one case to another. Sometimes, it is one session a week, sometimes several sessions a week, but usually it is once a week or once every two weeks.
The period during which a client gets psychological help also differs – it may stretch over several years or just a couple of months.
The psychologist and the client can choose a specific theme as the focus of the therapy, and how many sessions the therapy should comprise. Some see their psychologist on an intermittent basis. This will often be the case with hearing impaired people. Each time one’s hearing ability is further reduced, it may be necessary to deal with the associated emotional reactions.
The psychologist helps the person with hearing loss find the strength to live the best possible life with a hearing loss without denying that it exists. The individual is encouraged to look at the hearing loss as a natural part of the personality rather than something that should reduce one’s self-esteem.
If the person is going through a crisis because he or she grieves over the reduced hearing ability, this is the theme that the psychologist focuses on. An individual with hearing impairment may experience feelings of shame, guilt, powerlessness, anger, low self-respect, fear, isolation - or perhaps even depression. The psychologist will try to make the person deal with these feelings and reactions so as to make room for good and revitalising feelings.
Psychologists rarely give advice but instead ask questions. This allows the person with a hearing loss to find his or her own - often unknown - potentials and resources rather than having another person’s advice and directions forced upon them. This increases the self-respect.
In the therapeutic process, the hearing impaired person goes through phases of grief and joy. Grief because they have to say goodbye to lost opportunities and the old identity as a person with normal hearing. Joy when the process is successful, and the person sees new opportunities and experiences feelings of self-respect and purpose in life regardless of the hearing loss.
Parallel to the therapeutic process many psychologists will ensure that their client has received accurate information on how the hearing loss can best be treated. The psychologist is also a trustworthy person to explain to others about the limitations that can result from the hearing loss with regard to, for example, communication and physical and mental energy.
SEE ALSO:
HypnosisVisualisation
