Most children hearing voices stop within three years, Royal College of Psychiatry, 03/09/2002




Last updated 11/06/2007




This press release was made to announce the findings into the research into children who hear voices conducted by Dr. Sandra Escher and colleagues:

3 September 2002, Press Release Royal College of Psychiatry:

The majority of children hearing voices stop reporting the experience over the course of three years, according to a new study.

Voice appraisals, and associated anxiety and depression, are better predictors of voice persistence than ‘traditional’ measures of psychotic symptoms and problem behaviour.

The aim of the study, published in a supplement to the September 2002 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry , was to examine the course of experience of voices sequentially over a three-year period in children with and without a need for mental health care. Childhood hallucinations occur in a variety of psychiatric states, such as schizophrenia, anxiety and depression, migraine and trauma.

Long-term follow-up studies have suggested variable outcomes for hearing voices. It is known that there are pathological and non-pathological hallucinatory experiences.

A recent study found that around 8% of children reported hearing voices, of whom only a third had a psychiatric illness. In this study baseline measurements were made among a group of 80 children with an average age of 12.9 years who were hearing voices, of whom about half were not receiving mental health care.

Voice characteristics (e.g. volume, tone and frequency), voice attributions, psychopathology, stressful life events, coping mechanisms and receipt of professional care were then used to predict what would happen over the next three years.

It was found that rate of discontinuation of the voices over the three year period was 60%. Those children receiving mental health care more often reported the presence of emotional triggers to the voices and more often reported childhood adversity. They had more negative feelings about their voices, and more often felt that the voices influenced their emotions and behaviour.

There was no difference between those receiving and not receiving mental health care in terms of total coping score, but children receiving care made use less often of passive problem solving, like ignoring the voice, listening selectively or doing something. This is in line with the view that the need for care is related to the way the person interacts with their experience of voices, rather than just the experience itself.

Severity and frequency of the voices predicted whether they would persist over time, as did anxiety and depression associated with hearing the voices and lack of clear triggers of time and place for the voices. If children are able to identify triggers of time and place (e.g. hearing voices only at school, or when alone in their bedroom at night), they are more likely to overcome the experience than if the voices are around all the time. Children who need professional help are more likely to feel overpowered by the voices.

The more people the children had told about the voices, the more likely they were to persist. This suggests that the need for mental health care is to a large extent associated with the child’s (and parents’) appraisal of the voices rather than the perception itself. Having mental health care did not in itself make it more likely that the voices would stop. This may be because at the time of the study, most care appeared to be directed towards suppressing voices rather than coping with them.

The authors comment that as persistence of voices is related to voice appraisals, the experience of voices by children should be the target of specific interventions.


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  1. shira nelsonMay 16, 2007 @ 05:34 AM
    i hear voices all the time there usually real nasty voices how do i stop them call me at 3135169813
  2. PaulJune 26, 2007 @ 05:29 PM

    Dear Shira,

    Apologies for the long delay in replying to you enquiry.

    Unfortunately, we don´t have the resources to phone you, but for further advice and information you could phone the HEARING VOICES CONFIDENTIAL HELPLINE in the UK at + 44 (0)845 122 8642, open 10am – 4pm, Monday to Friday.

    If you live in the USA you could also contact HVN - USA, visit their website at http://www.hvn-usa.org/.

    To answer you question about how to stop nasty vocies, you could start by looking at this fact sheet http://voices.schublade.org/assets/2007/6/26/25.pdf which has been written by voice hearers and suggests lots of different ways to control voices. I hope it might be of help!

    Best wishes

    Paul Baker INTERVOICE

  3. Jenny HopkinsFebruary 21, 2008 @ 06:08 AM
    Hi, My 6 yr old daughter tells me that she hears voices in her head. She says that they are mean and want her to do bad things. she hears them constantly and when she tells them to go away they get louder and louder and give her a headache. please help.
  4. AdrienneMarch 16, 2008 @ 04:31 AM
    Hi Jenny, I am sure if you wanted more information, Sandra Escher would be happy to answer them. Join the forum- there is a link on the home page, and post your relevant questions there. Regards
  5. lauraMarch 31, 2008 @ 09:26 PM
    my 8 year old hears voices it is a boy and he is mean to her and tells her to do bad things and has been there for 4 years now and it is not getting any better i don't know what to do anymore she has been in the hospital twice and they ar thinking about sending her back. what do i do i have other children to think about to her twin and my granddaughter who is 14 months. i am at the end of my rope
  6. michelleJuly 13, 2008 @ 09:49 AM
    HI i have a 9year old girl and she says that she can hear and see gost this has been going on for about 6 months,she is due to go and see a doctor in august,i have been reading up on this and it seems that some children only have 1 voice my daughter has about 4 or five talking to her can you pleas advise on this. thay dont tlk to her all the time just every know and then she will say that thay have come back but thay are not as load as thay used to be,she is have trouble at school and has dyslexia and discalculia,which does have a big affect on her and times,she also finds it hard to make friends.bullying and names calling has nocked her confidence,can you please give me some advise.thank you.michelle.
  7. Tatjana RolandDecember 27, 2008 @ 07:28 PM
    I'm a mother of 2 children that raise them by her self. I have recently experience that my daughter 12 has changed to an unusual event. She is always in her room and don't like to talk about anything and she is very angry and Gothic. Now she told me that she is hearing and seeing voices and I need help with that because she is afraid that the Dr would say she is crazy or so. She will not go with me to the Dr and getting help I can not make her. I don't know what to do anymore please can you help.
  8. LouiseMarch 01, 2009 @ 01:19 AM
    I am a full time teacher of 6 to 7 yr olds. I have recently had a student with serious past health problems and current behavioural issues at school reveal to me that he is hearing a voice. I would be interested in discussing this and gaining some light on what the student may be experiencing.
  9. JayneAiyreMarch 04, 2009 @ 02:36 AM
    My son, 9 yo just told me that he hears voices, several at a time and can't hear exactly what they are saying. He has been having extreme anxiety, school and bully-related. He is tormented by school. Three weeks ago he started therapy for his school anxiety. This coincides with the onset of the voices. Could there be a connection? I'm fairly alarmed. Thank you so much.
  10. PeterApril 06, 2009 @ 02:56 PM
    Please do not public my personal details. I am trying to understand the physical symptoms that precede, accompany and follow the experience of hearing voices. Before beginning to hear voices at some point I felt as if two wires suddenly came together and produced an electrical discharge. Later on I felt as if a vein became suddenly blocked. The sensations are felt on one side/or the other of my head. Every time this happens I loose energy and find it difficult to keep awake. At the same time the voices become loud and persistent. While I hear voices I am unable to think coherently or speak in grammatically correct sentences. I agree with a comment I read somewhere, that the experience of hearing voices inhibits mental development Perhaps if the physical symptoms were known and analysed it may be possible to determine the root of the problem.
  11. John TApril 13, 2009 @ 04:54 PM
    Hey My son is six and says he is hearing a voice. The voice tells him things like family members are going to die if he talks about it or that certain food we are eating is poisoned. I believe he is serious in his belief because he starts crying when it happens. In the last 6 months two family members have died including his great grandfather who he was close to. Also he has always seemed preoccupied with the fact that we all will die some day (he started asking questions about this when he was two). We are currently under family stress due to an impending move out of state. Any help would be appreciated.
  12. DavidNovember 27, 2009 @ 03:42 PM
    Hi to everyone looking for answers.. Don't believe anything that doctors or others might say.. as they have not experienced this before. As a young child I had seen ghosts, and told my skeptical sister, she eventually saw it too.. they're real.. It's not due to hallucination or anything mental.. some kids are able to see, hear and feel the unknown.. This is because kids are just new to the world, and very close to the spiritual world still.
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