The voices you hear are spirits, you are all special, these voices have a purpose although you hear the negative voices as well as the positive. There are two sides, God (the positive voices) and the devil (the negative voices) train yourselves to hear only the positive voices. You are voices for God and anointed to hear him, so ignore the devil, he is butting into God’s business and does not belong there. Please read my story at: www.spiritualaspects.com. Thank you.

Jorge may mean well, but applying an arbitary template to all hearing voices phenomena is not helpful. The God/Devil dichotomy may not be relevant to many voice experiencers, and in some respects may exacerbate distress by a belief that the voices are omnipotent in nature. Better to be open to all possible origins, many of which may originate in a traumatic past.

if this is worth anything to anyone my experience of schizophrenia is below in an article wrote by my special needs tutor the article is coming out in July 2010 in some form in the Rethink main magazine called "Your Voice" membership to Rethink is free of charge option as well just go onto their website www.rethink.org and chose the membership option for free membership it can all be done online I hope this helps one person somewhere but I am only special needs myself : Everybody has my permission to publish this as a gift from me if it is any good to anyone : Case Study Patel By Eric G Whitehurst Bsc (Hons) and Shuresh Patel (Psychology undergraduate at University of Bolton). 2010. About the Co-Authors Eric Whitehurst studied for the degree in Psychology in 2000 and is now working as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist/Hypnotherapist at the Hale Village Therapy Centre. Shuresh Patel (the experimental subject - see below). Introduction The concept of ‘dementia praecox’ which is an early term for schizophrenia and first established as late as 1898 was initially formulated by German and Swiss psychiatrics Kraeplin and Bleuler. ‘Dementia’ means a progressive intellectual deterioration and ‘praecox’ means an early onset. The dementia, however is not so associated with the aging process but rather a term which Kraeplin saw as mental enfeeblement. The original major symptoms of schizophrenia according to Kraeplin are hallucinations, delusions, negativism, attentional difficulties, stereotyped behaviour and emotional dysfunction. Bleuler broke ranks with Kraeplin on two major points. He did not necessarily believe that schizophrenia had an early onset and that it did not necessarily head towards dementia. Thus, in 1908, Bleuler coined the name of SCHIZOPHRENIA from the Greek roots of ‘Schizen’ meaning to split and ‘Phren’ meaning mind. In his opinion, this summed up the essential nature of the condition and it is still called this today. (Bootzin, ACOCELLA, Alloy, P365) Case Study Patel Patel first presented for therapy in March 2002 at the Sale Therapy Centre during which time Whitehurst was working as a volunteer, Cognitive behavioural therapist/hypnotherapist for the National Phobic Society. In his application for therapy, Patel wrote that he was a 36 year old Asian male who was suffering from schizophrenia with severe dyslexia and a phobia of birds of prey – especially owls. Patel asked his psychiatrist to write to the National Phobic Society to ask for agreement to undergo cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnotherapy through their services. He was described as having a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had been free of positive psychotic symptoms for at least 4 years; he was fully compliant with his weekly treatment of depot Depixol injection. On the 18th of February 2002, Patel’s medication was reduced from this regular dose of 50mgs of Depixol down to 40mgs of Depixol each week, and the agreement was then given for the treatment of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Hypnotherapy to commence. However, there was a request from the psychiatrist that only one therapeutic change should be made at a time, and that having reduced his dose of medication, he should wait for at least 4 months before making another therapeutic change. Patel’s doctor also advised that any interventions should take into account his diagnosis of schizophrenia; to be cautious not to elevate his level of arousal or focus on psychotic experiences and to be particularly cautious when addressing his phobia of birds because the origin of these phobias had initiated his psychotic illness. He added that although the psychotic symptoms had been resolved, Patel was still left with residual fears of birds. During the first therapy session, Patel gave an account of the events leading up to him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983. He was third eldest of 4 children and had been a model student, with hopes of advancing into further education – A levels and University, etc. Patel reported that his phobia of birds started in 1983 as a 17 year old college student; he stated, “my life was pressurised and this was adversely affecting my studies. I psyched myself out around this time by staring at an owl poster in the entrance of my college, for hours on end. This was my way of running away from failing as a human being. Since then, I have associated owls and for that matter, any bird, with failure. Every time I shut my eyes, I saw an owl or at least a bird, and that scared me.” Although Patel presented with many other issues, it was agreed that we should work together on his phobia of owls. Three months of weekly sessions, of systematic desensitisation techniques were used. First, a simple, cartoon drawing of an owl was introduced; this was followed by a black and white photograph of a real owl (a small Tawny owl) and then a colour photograph of a huge eagle owl. From here, Patel was given a cuddly toy owl to hold. Holding this small cuddly toy of an owl proved to be a very intimidating experience for him. Finally, an actual model of an owl was placed in front of him which proved even more intimidating. After 6 weekly sessions, Patel was able to watch a Harry Potter movie, which contained scenes of a real owl. On the final session, he was able to visit an owl sanctuary where, in Patel’s own words, “I was able to pick up an eagle owl, putting my bare hand in front of its mouth. In hindsight, I have actually discovered that owls are my friends, and if I could keep one in my council flat I would. Just like Harry Potter.” In July 2002, Patel asked his psychiatrist for an agreement to continue with CBT, Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy and Counselling now that his phobia of birds had been resolved, so that his other severe schizophrenic issues could be treated. Therefore, before therapy restarted there was a discussion between all parties concerned as to the duration of the therapy and the possibility of dependence upon it. It was agreed that Patel’s own views should always be taken into account and he requested that therapy should continue until the lowest “safe” dose of weekly Depixol injection was reached. Consequently, cautious and small reductions in the dose of weekly Depixol injection were made after every 6 months of treatment. It was also agreed with the psychiatrist to monitor and positively assess the therapeutic benefit of continuing therapy. Over the following months, we worked on reducing some of his excesses; for example, his caffeine intake and later, his smoking addiction. This improved his general health and tidiness. Reporting that he had no social life, it was agreed that he should join a gymnasium which would benefit both his health and his social well-being. It was during one of these early therapy sessions that Patel expressed an interest in returning to further education. He applied to the University of Bolton to take a degree in psychology. There were considerations to take into account before being accepted onto the degree course; Patel suffered from severe and specific learning difficulties so it was agreed that only with the assistance of a specialist support tutor should he attempt the degree. Patel found the first year at University as a full time student to be very stressful, and transferred to doing it part time; this was accepted. It should be stressed that throughout the degree course, Patel’s Education Authority funded the on-going therapy as part of a medically supervised experiment. Eight years later, after many difficulties associated in studying for the degree as a mentally handicapped student, Patel has passed all of his examinations and modular courses and is now writing his final dissertation. He has been granted a further extension due to his parkinson’s style side effect medication and is expected to complete his degree, May 2010. During the therapeutic period, the Depixol injections were reduced from 50mgs to 20mgs, and have now been replaced with 6 mgs of Risperidone. A further positive change is that Patel has been re-granted a temporary driving licence. Patel has written and published many articles regarding his therapeutic experience where he has expressed the benefits of long term therapy. These can be found in such publications as the International Association of Counselling 2009 supported by the BACP, The Europe’s Journal of Psychology, The Psychologist 2005 and the Hearing Voices Network magazine and the Rethink charity’s, “Your Voice” magazine 2009. He was also interviewed by the journalist Rosalind Hewitt. He gave her an account of his life experience, and there’s a reference to Patel in her book, ‘Moving On’, p183-184. In 2007, Patel addressed the AGM of the Hearing Voices Network. He gave a presentation about his article in the Europe’s Journal of Psychology. In 2008, he was invited to give two lectures at the Manchester Metropolitan University about his illness and treatment. It is unlikely that Patel will ever be free of medication; he still suffers from hallucinations and hearing voices, but deals with them by accepting that the images and voices cannot harm him. These positive symptoms may deteriorate; however, it may be put forward that the intervention of long term therapies has helped to alleviate some deep-rooted psychotic issues and has provided awareness, support, encouragement and a much better quality of life and future hope for Patel. References: Bootzin, Acocella & Alloy (1993) Abnormal Psychology Current Perspectives, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill, INC. Hewitt, R. (2007), Moving On: A handbook of good health and recovery. For people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Karnac Publishers. The International Association of Counselling, supported by BACP, Warwick University, 2009 (p29) The Europe’s Journal of Counselling (May 2007 Archives section) The Psychologist (September 2005 p535) The Hearing Voices Network magazine (various). Rethink charity’s “Your Voice” magazine 2009. Perceptions magazine (various).