Being all ears: a systemic perspective on the role of the psychologist in cochlear implantation

For those hearing-impaired individuals who do not derive any benefit from hearing amplification, cochlear implantation sometimes provides a useful alternative. Recently cochlear implant teams started to incorporate psychological services, mainly as a means to evaluate candidates as to their suitability to receive implants. This paper shows that cochlear implants can have serious and wide-ranging repercussions for the implantee and/or for the family, sometimes necessitating psychotherapeutic services. A case study is provided to illustrate the need for a much wider role for psychotherapeutic services and to also demonstrate how the adoption of a systems perspective can be of value to the therapeutic process.