can a deaf schizophrenic hear the voices?
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That's a great question!
Deaf people, like hearing people, can experience hallucinations, which can involve any of the senses (Briffa 1999).
The aims of the study were to examine claims that profoundly deaf schizophrenic patients report auditory hallucinations, and to evaluate proposed explanations that such patients are really describing other symptoms, or that the phenomenon is restricted to those who had heard and understood language prior to becoming deaf. METHOD: A total of 17 schizophrenic/schizoaffective patients with onset of profound deafness prior to the age of 2 years underwent structured psychiatric interview. RESULTS: Ten patients (59%) gave accounts of verbal auditory hallucinations with description of content. These did not appear to be attributable to other psychotic experiences and showed typical characteristics of schizophrenic hallucinations. The symptom was present in six patients who had been deaf from birth or early infancy. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that auditory hallucinations are a common phenomenon in profoundly prelingually deaf schizophrenic patients, which cannot be accounted for by the above explanations.
I suppose it's no different than a blind person having dreams really. What is seen and heard within the mind may not be accurate but it translates to the individual in a way that is understood by them. They may actually be hearing gobbledegook in their head but they understand it. I did read in another study that auditory hallucinations occur less in deaf schizophrenics and that that reflects in particular the influence of 'the deaf way' of sensory experience on imagery processes.
I hope this was a serious question as I found it far too intriguing to answer any other way.
Ta for getting the ol' grey noggin working after a brain numbing day at work!
yes, because the voices are in their heads, not their ears
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