Deaf Mental Health

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spiderjump

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Short story short. I took my friend's "mental diagnostic questionaire" test aka MDQ. THe results said that I was bipolar. I KNOW that I am not bipolar because I have known several bipolar people in my life and I don't act like them. To dispute the results of the MDQ, I took self MDQ tests at many different sites online. Many of them said I was schizophrenia. I thought, this is impossible! So fine, I googled "deaf misdiagnosed schizo". It turns out that there are alot of them out there.

Are any of you aware of a good mental health website for deafies? It looks like I may have to put aside my learnings from reading my DSM IV book and learn about DEAF mental health behavior. :hmm:
 
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spiderjump said:
Short story short. I took my friend's "mental diagnostic questionaire" test aka MDQ. THe results said that I was bipolar. I KNOW that I am not bipolar because I have known several bipolar people in my life and I don't act like them. To dispute the results of the MDQ, I took self MDQ tests at many different sites online. Many of them said I was schizophrenia. I thought, this is impossible! So fine, I googled "deaf misdiagnosed schizo". It turns out that there are alot of them out there.

Are any of you aware of a good mental health website for deafies? It looks like I may have to put aside my learnings from reading my DSM IV book and learn about DEAF mental health behavior. :hmm:
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What about this......Maybe you are schizo and one of your personalities is bipolar???

:lol: Just kidding. Sorry I don't know of a website
 
You can't diagnose yourself online. Consult a psychiatrist, the appropriate specialist to make a diagnosis and prescribe medication/therapy. Of course, you'll need an interpreter. Good luck! Hope that you get the answers you seek.
 
Sally lou, that was not what I was asking. Read again: I googled "deaf misdiagnosed schizo". It turns out that there are alot of them out there.

What I am looking for is DEAF psychology, not psychology based on hearing people behavior. Deaf and hearing people will never behave the same, deaf and hearing psychology will always be different.

:gossip:
 
Uh-oh.....Now you've done it.

Cue the Darth Vader music...... :lol:
 
I found it, it took a little bit of digging through the internet. I was using the wrong phrase. Google this phrase: psychology of deafness. There is alot to read!
 
I have a lot of books checked out from my school library that deals with this subject. One that I have briefly glanced at is this one:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Odyssey-Hearing-Loss-Tales-Triumph/dp/1581210078/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279812677&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: Odyssey of Hearing Loss: Tales of Triumph (9781581210071): Michael A. Harvey PhD: Books[/ame]

Obviously written from the medical/hearing point of view, but I've found a few unique insights in it. Might be worth a look if you can find it in a public library.
 
spiderjump said:
Short story short. I took my friend's "mental diagnostic questionaire" test aka MDQ. THe results said that I was bipolar. I KNOW that I am not bipolar because I have known several bipolar people in my life and I don't act like them. To dispute the results of the MDQ, I took self MDQ tests at many different sites online. Many of them said I was schizophrenia. I thought, this is impossible! So fine, I googled "deaf misdiagnosed schizo". It turns out that there are alot of them out there.

Are any of you aware of a good mental health website for deafies? It looks like I may have to put aside my learnings from reading my DSM IV book and learn about DEAF mental health behavior. :hmm:
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Online tests are not valid or reliable. Never use those instruments, and never self diagnose.

Likewise, most instruments used for assessment are standardized using a hearing population, which can result in incorrect interpretation of results for a deaf individual. There are a couple of good texts out there that address the issues of deaf mental health assessment and treatment. They will give you more in depth information regarding error rates and specifics that need to be considered in diagnosing and treating the deaf population.
 
I have openly discussed my mental health disorders in AD forum previous times. Hey, Im still here and kicking despite my problems.
 
hohDougRN said:
I have openly discussed my mental health disorders in AD forum previous times. Hey, Im still here and kicking despite my problems.
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And, I for one, am extremely proud of you. You serve as a great example for others.
 
I suffer from ADHD as well as my unilateral deafness.
For my psychiatrist and my GP, this association of diagnosis is a very atypical one.
And to add some more difficulties for them, I sometimes don't react at all on how does a doctor may expect from an ADHD (I have the hyperactive type, despite I am a girl). When I take a decision, it's always a carefully planned one, whereas my psychiatrist says and knows that to adults, AD/HD decide based on impulsivity (which is, of course, not my case).
Which makes finding a good psychiatrist and GP not easy to find, as there are only 5 psychiatrists in France which care ADHD adults patients, and many doctors says that ADHD has been invented from American to get patients drug addicts (heard much more than once, and I don't deprive myself to harshly reply, even if they are not pleased : if they are not pleased, it's the physician's problem, not mine !)

A test doesn't say which kind of problem you have. But it puts a red flag that you may have a problem.
So the only valuable solution is : go to see a psychiatrist, and not a nutjob one like I saw once (he is now in trouble with the hospital I am cared in. But no need to worry, I have never been hospitalized : I go only to see my psychiatrist, a very good one and she does her job properly. Like if I were going to see my GP, who is not at hospital ;) ).
 
Also some of them are paranoid too, thinking someone is talking bad about her or him. Ddeaf/Hhoh can be easily sensitive.
 
I have gone through depression, but it had nothing to do and was not related to my hearing loss. Mostly, I deal with insecurity and things like that. When I lost my hearing, it was like a weight off my shoulders and I felt free. Does that make sense? It does to me, I no longer have to struggle to hear what is being said, but missed by my HA's. Now, I just miss 90% of it, since reading lips ain't easy.
 
Doug, glad to see you around and still kicking. :wave:

My local deaf center has a therapist who volunteers to offer mental health care. She's deaf. That's an ideal situation if you can find it.
 
really I believe really pretty sound I think so good idea. that is really great!. Think so good.
 
sallylou said:
Doug, glad to see you around and still kicking. :wave:

My local deaf center has a therapist who volunteers to offer mental health care. She's deaf. That's an ideal situation if you can find it.
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Yes, it is. They are few and far between, though.
 
yagazn said:
Also some of them are paranoid too, thinking someone is talking bad about her or him. Ddeaf/Hhoh can be easily sensitive.
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That makes sense, although I didn't think about it first.
But if I don't say stupidities, ADHD people may also be hypersensitive.
So which is the chicken, which is the egg ? I don't have the slightest idea....

I have always been emotionally hypersensitive : if I'm please, I'll be overly pleased, if I'm mad, I'll be overly mad.
But bipolar disorder has been quickly ruled out, and psychosis has been ruled out more than very quickly.
Personality and eating disorders are also excluded, remains the Single Sided Deafness, ADHD (hyperactive type, despite being a girl) and learning disabilities (dyscalculia and maybe a non verbal learning disability : dyscalculia we are sure, but I'm not sure about non verbal learning disability. So I'll ask my psychiatrist next time I see her).

My ex psychiatrist is now laughed from his chief, my current psychiatrist.
And if I say that my ex psychiatrist is a notjob one, believe me or not, I have real reasons (even my GP says to : she says that after what he did, it's a miracle that he didn't kill me. Really !).

Even if my GP is not a psychiatrist, she knows me too well to know that if I say something is wrong, it's really wrong.
Mom and my GP don't see themselves each other, and both say that I often foresee the problems : if there is a problem, I "feel" it quickly, in an instinctive way. That what happened with my previous psychiatrist : I foresaw right from the beginning there was a problem, just a few minutes after seeing him for the first time, and as soon as he did what he did, the problem was absolutely obvious for me.
Mom said at the beginning that legally speaking, I may exaggerate when I said it was an abuse, but a few months later, after reading the French legal definition of abuse, she told me : "you were right, Giulia. I replied you were probably exaggerating but actually, you were right right from the beginning" (no pun intended : translation from French into English).
I can sometimes be wrong like anyone else, but it has been rare until now that I was wrong when I said there is a problem and finding where is the problem.


Advantage, drawback ? I don't have any definitive answer about it.
 
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