For the 5 million people who suffer from hearing impairmentin France, physical disability can be accompanied by daily psychological difficulties. The last Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BEH) publishes a survey on the mental health of this population.
Researchers from the Institute for Health Surveillance (InVS) and the National Institute for Prevention and Health Education (Inpes) conducted a survey in 2011-2012 of 2,994 people aged 15 and over living with reduced hearing or hearing impairment.
Main lesson, the disorders and the physical embarrassments related to hearing disorders can have repercussions on the psychological state.
The suicidal thoughtsare five times more common in people with hearing impairment than in the general population. Suicide attempts were also three times higher than in the general population.
Another worrying finding is that deaf and hard of hearing people are also more exposed to physical or psychological violence and sexual violence. They were 2 to 3 times more often declared than in the general population, indicates the study.
“Greater Vulnerability”
How can this increased risk of suicide and violence be explained? Communication and relational difficulties in people suffering from deafness or hearing problems could play a role in the discomfort and/or fragility observed. On a daily basis, hearing problems could induce “greater vulnerability”.
“Forms of discrimination, stigmatization and exhaustion would be partly at play in these difficulties”, also suggests the survey.
In France, of the five million people with a moderate to severe hearing impairment in France, 360,000 suffer from very serious hearing limitations.
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