You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Mental health services for deaf individuals have been available for more than a quarter of a century, yet few investigations have been reported on the dreams of the deaf. In contrast, cognition in this group intrigued psychologists as early as 1890, when William James cited evidence from a biographical recollection that thought was documented in a deaf person at an age before language was normally acquired. Pioneering investigations of cognition and affect in persons profoundly deaf from birth or early childhood were based mainly on the results of psychological tests. A characteristic personality profile contained such terms as social immaturity, ego rigidity, deficient emotional adaptability and limitations in abstract conceptual thinking. In clinical studies, Altshuler (1963) observed as typical personality features a tendency to express feelings through action, a paucity of empathy, and limited awareness of the effects of one's own behavior in interpersonal relationships. Rainer (1976) suggested that auditory deprivation in childhood leads to a diminished capacity for affect modulation and regulation. Similarly, Galenson et al. (1979) posited that the absence of audition and verbal language leads to an attenuated mother-child interaction that engenders life-long warps in ego attributes, including motor development and the symbolic function, as well as object relations.
The tendency to view deaf people in a stereotyped fashion has been closely examined and challenged by several other investigators.
This paper was presented at the 26th Winter Meeting of The American Academy of Psychoanalysis, San Diego, California, December 9-12, 1982.