For the 5 million people who suffer from hearing impairmentin France, physical disability can be accompanied by psychological difficulties on a daily basis. The last Weekly epidemiological bulletin (BEH) publishes a survey on the mental health of this population.
Researchers from the Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) and the National Institute for Prevention and Education for Health (Inpes) conducted a survey in 2011-2012 among 2,994 people aged 15 and over living with have reduced hearing or have hearing impairments.
The main lesson is that the physical discomfort and discomfort associated with hearing impairments can have repercussions on the psychological state.
The suicidal thoughtsare five times more common in people with hearing impairments 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 to explain this increased risk of suicide and violence suffered? Communication and relationship difficulties in people suffering from deafness or hearing problems could play a role in the discomfort and / or the fragility observed. On a daily basis, hearing problems could induce “greater vulnerability”.
“Forms of discrimination, stigmatization and exhaustion are partly at play in these difficulties”, also suggests the survey.
In France, out of the five million people with moderate to severe hearing disabilities in France, 360,000 suffer from very serious hearing limitations.
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