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.
This paper is an excellent beginning in the psychological exposition of the problems of the deaf. Zeckel is fully aware of the shortcomings of his observations and deductions. He offers them at the present time only as a preliminary report of the work conducted at the Vanderbilt Clinic with the deaf. He reports a large group of cases briefly to show some of the factors which appear to be important in the production of the emotional constellations encountered in the deaf. In his discussion he gives a short review of the brief literature available (Berry, Fenichel, Fentress, Fowler, Goldstein, Menninger, Solomon, Wells). He concludes that deaf people have no typical characteristics, that those who made a nonneurotic adjustment prior to deafness accept the deprivation and may be able to see advantages and make a good compensation. Zeckel is impressed by the theory that deafness is an unconscious punishment symbolizing castration. He agrees with Fenichel's remarks concerning the economic distribution of libidinal energy while he discounts the usual conception that the deaf are paranoid, though he is cognizant of the development of 'being on the alert' often characteristic of the deaf as a defense compensating for their handicap. Zeckel stresses the fact that many of the problems arise from the simple fact that the communications of the ego of the deaf with the outside world are impaired, bringing discouragement and resentment.