The 1st World Hearing Voices Day was on Thursday, 14th September 2006

In November 2005, Louise Pembroke, a voice hearer and psychiatric survivor from England proposed that INTERVOICE should hold its own World Hearing Voices Day in 2006 to:

celebrate the hearing of voices as part of the diversity of human experience and increase awareness of the fact you can hear voices and be healthy

challenge negative attitudes towards people who hear voices or the incorrect assumption that this is in itself a sign of an illness, an assumption made about them that is not based on their own experiences, is stigmatising, isolating and makes people ill

raise awareness of the issues facing the estimated 4% of women, men and children who hear voices across the world.

For a mostly unfunded network this was a challenge indeed, but one that was taken up by our members with energy and creativity and resulted in an impressive array of events and activities that were held in 14 countries across the world – from Australia to Finland. See below for further details about the events we held.

Aims:

The theme of the World Hearing Voices Day 2006 addressed whether hearing voices should be considered an illness or as part of the diversity of human experience that does not in itself have to result in an illness.

Jacqui Dillon, Chair of the English Hearing Voices Network said:

“I have been a voice hearer since I was a small child as a consequence of serious abuse that I experienced throughout my childhood. My own experiences within mental health services were so damaging and negative that I was passionate about improving services so that they would be helpful to people in mental distress rather than hindering them. When I joined the Network I saw a powerful means of making change, which enabled voice hearers to reclaim their experiences and the Hearing Voices Network has enabled me to make changes in my world and to become part of a collective voice for change. For someone who was told that she would never recover, life could not be better!”

In announcing the World Hearing Voices Day, The President of INTERVOICE, Dutch psychiatrist, Professor Marius Romme said:

“Because of the fears and misunderstandings in society and within psychiatry about hearing voices, they are generally regarded as a symptom of an illness, something that is negative, to be got rid of and consequently the content and meaning of the voice experience is rarely discussed.

In contrast, our work and research has shown that over 70% of people who hear voices can point to a traumatic life event that triggered their voices; that talking about voices and what they mean is a very effective way to reduce anxiety and isolation; and that even when the voices are overwhelming and seemingly destructive they often have an important message for the hearer. With the support of the worldwide hearing voices network, voice hearers, some of whom have spent long periods of time in psychiatric care have reclaimed their lives and are now able to say they hear voices and accept them as part of themselves. Our journey to better understand the voice hearing experience has now been going on for almost twenty years and we thought this would be a good time to celebrate our achievements and to make our work better known across the world.”

This research and work on hearing voices represents a real challenge to the current understanding of the voice hearing experience, provides a message of hope and the possibility of recovery from serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

World Hearing Voices Day Events:

Conference in Manchester, 6th-8th Sept. 2006: Click here

Participating countries:

More than 40 events and other activities to celebrate World Hearing Voices Day were held on and around the 14th September in 14 different countries:

Austria

Australia

England

Finland

Denmark

Germany

Italy

Japan

Netherlands

New Zealand

Scotland

Sweden

Switzerland

U.S.A.

For more creative activities click here.

Back to Events and Training contents page