If you have lost your ability to hear properly, you must be going through emotional challenges at the moment. Psychologically speaking, this type of issue can affect one’s life tremendously, and without properly approaching the issue, anxiety or even depression are risks you might face in the future. While some choose to stay optimistic and take their hearing loss as it is, others find it more difficult to overcome this sudden life-changing problem. If you are part of the latter category, you should know that there are a few strategies that can help you cope with your situation, so all you have to do is keep reading to find out more:
Don’t be ashamed of being interdependent
Nobody says you need to constantly depend on someone entirely to understand a conversation, a movie or a phone call discussion, but being interdependent is perfectly fine. What does that mean? Asking someone to repeat something if you haven’t understood what they said, or to explain a joke from a movie you are watching because you merely missed the line, are things you shouldn’t be ashamed of doing. Yes, you will need a bit of help at first, even if you have excellent hearing aids, so don’t see interdependence as a handicap, or as the opposite of your independence.
See a therapist!
Facing anxiety episodes that have been triggered by your hearing loss is possible, and if left unattended, these can also lead to the appearance of depression. Most people don’t realize how useful seeing a therapist can actually be when facing a problem that has changed their way of living. Someone who specializes in psychology knows the proper techniques to help you effectively manage your anxiety or other psychological inconveniences that have been triggered by this problem. Even if you might think you can manage things on your own, only after being consulted by a therapist, you can see how helpful this can actually be.
Include people with the same deficiency in your group of friends!
Last but not least, another thing that can help you accept your situation, and adapt to it more rapidly is to start socializing with other people who are also confronted with a hearing deficiency. It can often seem like your close ones do not exactly understand what you are going through, so joining a support group, for example, can be extremely beneficial. You will have the possibility to receive advice from others, find empathy and ultimately see that living with hearing loss is not that hard – if others can do it, so can you!
Yes, hearing loss is perceived as a misfortune at first, and facing certain challenges is possible. However, your life quality does not need to be affected as long as you adopt the right coping mechanisms. These strategies will allow you to learn how to live with hearing loss and maintain a positive and healthy attitude towards the problem. As frustrating as it may seem at the moment, you can quickly restore normality in your life as long as you resort to the right coping strategies.
References
Beltone. https://www.beltone.com/hearing-health/coping-with-hearing-loss.aspx. Accessed November 2017.
Academic OUP. https://academic.oup.com/jdsde/article/10/1/63/361312. Accessed November 2017.
Springer. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A%3A1022853729884. Accessed November 2017.
