Psychological Aspects of Voice Disorders

Deborah Caputo Rosen, Reinhardt J. Heuer, David A. Sasso, Robert T. Sataloff
From: Performing Arts Medicine, 3rd ed.: Chapter 19 © 2010; page: 353

Abstract: Voice care professionals have come to recognize important psychological problems found commonly in patients with voice disorders. Such psychological problems were ignored routinely in past years, but now, they are searched for diligently throughout evaluation and treatment. When identified, these problems often require intervention by a psychological professional with special knowledge about voice disorders, as well as by a speech-language pathologist and other voice team members.
This chapter outlines the psychological effects that voice injury has on the professional voice users, examining the interplay of voice and emotion and the voice's role in the performer's self-image. The types of psychogenic voice disorders are discussed, including musculoskeletal stress disorders, conversion voice disorders, and mutational falsetto and childlike speech, with case studies included. This is followed by a survey of general psychopathologic conditions presenting in performers, including depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia, as well as their treatment with psychotherapeutic approaches and psychoactive medications. Additional psychological conditions discussed include eating disorders, substance abuse, neurogenic dysphonia, and psychological stress and its management.

Last Updated: 7 / 2010

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