Chronic communication disorders, like spasmodic dysphonia, often present with psychosocial effects and quality of life impairments beyond the apparent voice symptoms. These can include navigating strong emotions like frustration, anger, sadness, self-consciousness, decreased self-confidence, hopelessness and more. Psychosocial symptoms can also be apparent in avoidance of social situations that a person used to take part in, decreased enjoyment of activities, or diminished ability to participate in activities or social events as one previously did. Spasmodic dysphonia and related voice conditions can have a significant impact on one’s job or career, particularly if communication is a highly valued component of one’s job. It can lead to more “thinking” about the process of speaking or the voice, diminishing one’s ability to fully engage in or enjoy conversations.
During this challenging time with the COVID-19 pandemic, these psychosocial symptoms may be even more apparent, as general life stresses, anxiety, and changing career duties are more apparent now than ever. Some individuals may feel that “there are worse things” and that their feelings related to these psychosocial symptoms are either not valid or not important. However, these feelings are valid and similarly noted across the board for many with spasmodic dysphonia, although they affect each individual differently. Christie DeLuca is a Speech Language Pathologist and specialist in spasmodic dysphonia. She presents her research on psychosocial and quality of life impairments of spasmodic dysphonia and will speak about her own perspective on these factors, as an individual with spasmodic dysphonia herself. Coping strategies, suggestions for decreasing these psychosocial symptoms and considerations for the treatment of spasmodic dysphonia moving forward will be discussed
