The Use of Psychodrama with Deaf People

Abstract

A deaf adolescent boy repeatedly explodes with little warning into a destructive rage physically attacking his environment. His parents feel impotent in their attempts to help their son. The boy can give no explanation for his behavior, only that he loses control and the result is destruction.
Another deaf boy who has grown up in an environment almost totally devoid of language of any type attempts to communicate via his "homegrown" gestures and signs. Many people have decided he is retarded and has no potential; however, a closer look reveals a certain brightness and creativity in the language he has created.
These people for whom help is sought because of their behaviors are candidates for psychodrama. Both have experienced isolation and rejection from their social support systems and are responding to their environment in the best way they have learned. But, unfortunately, these behaviors, because of their social unacceptability, increase their isolation and rejection.