The experience of hearing voices
Last updated 11/06/2007
Hearing voices is the best term that has been found to date and it is the way most people who have this experience refer to it. Read why we think so, here.
They are like normal voices, there is variety and every experience has its differences. You may think you have never experienced this, but are you sure?
Voice hearers can find themselves experiencing an overwhelming world and their power of reason may be virtually extinguished making it impossible to go about their lives. Open discussion with others offers a means of helping you to accept your voices.
To assist voice hearers it is important for mental health professionals to examine in detail the frames of reference and coping strategies that seem to be the most useful to the voice hearer. By doing so voice hearers can be supported more effectively in their attempts to deal with their experiences.
Anxiety, impact, organisation and stabilisation
Voice hearing is commonly experienced following a bereavement. Some examples of research studies into this aspect of voice hearing.
"It is not very often you hear people talk about the voices that go along with having an eating disorder. I feel it is very important to talk about those voices because they do play a big role in keeping the eating disorder active." (Article by Colleen Thompson)
The following exercise was developed by Ron Coleman as a way to simulate what it is like to hear voices and was developed to try to give mental health workers and relatives some insight into what it is like to hear intrusive, negative and commanding voices.
In this article, academic Dr. Benjamin Gray recalls his experiences of dealing with voices that other people could not hear
'Making Friends with Voices' is a personal account of one woman's experience of hearing voices, dissociation and childhood trauma. It explores the inherent meaning hidden behind the voices, and looks at the therapeutic merit of cartoons and icecream for adult survivors of childhood abuse.
Further reading and references on experiencing voices
Research and related articles on the experience of hearing voices
Comments
-
It has been detected, via MRI scans, that the part of the brain that deals with speech processing, is the part that becomes active when the so called Schizophrenic begins to hear voices. This processed information is then sent to the much more complex areas of the brain, being the parts that are responsible for the very creation of consciousness and its awareness. The areas that deal with the speech processing alone, are the areas that are very primitive indeed, and by no means can they be complex enough to create a complex mind, and voice, that argues with the victim in a manner that requires an extreme intellect indeed. But no one questions this. WHY ???
-
I have been hearing voices since late 2003. However I am pretty sure I am not crazy. There seemed to be people following me and such as well. It was like some big joke was being played on me. Sequently everyone on television started giving a hitchhikers thumb. I thought the T.V. was talking to me as it seemed to be a big fad. The t.V. was matching up with the voices in my head. I thought there was an internet site about me or I was on the radio or something. The movie stranger than fiction then came out years later. This coming from the phrase truth is stranger than fiction. I think I am a huge rumor and am trying to find answers. Please respond with any help.
-
Hi nick, i get it. I just wrote a superlong comment addressing your concerns, ran out of space and acidentally deleted it. *sigh* i go through the same shit, have for about 13 years. Nobody has jumped out to say surprise. Either were being fucked with paranormally or we're crazy. At least we're cool enough to "see" ourselves on tv and in the movies, but you should know that it is very unlikley that human beings are monitoring you that closely... My thoughts align with 3d reality in a superfast interplay. I like to use he term synchronicity to describe it. Email me if you want and i'll share my other theories with you, roy.buck@gmail.com. I especially like the one about the paranormal prankster that has tricked people into thinking it is god! Good luck to you and fight the good fight! A clean concious is a great weapon out of this madness. And if it gets too isolating remember, animals dont lie.