The meaning of hearing voices




Last updated 11/06/2007



  • Are voices a symptom of illness or a variety of human experience?
    There are many people who hear voices, some of whom cope with their voices well without psychiatric intervention, it has also been found that there are many people who hear voices who can cope with their voices and regard them as a positive part of their lives.

  • Psychiatry and hearing voices
    There appears to be an unbridgeable disagreement between the scientific community who understand the voices to be hallucinatory and a product of a deluded mind and those who regard them as something meaningful, real and even sometimes spiritual.

  • Hearing voices amongst "normal" people
    Hearing voices – or auditory hallucinations – are not necessarily symptomatic of an illness.

  • Redefining hearing voices
    There are in our society more people hearing voices who never became psychiatric patients than there are people who hear voices and become psychiatric patients.

  • Hearing voices and schizophrenia
    A cause related alternative for the harmful concept of schizophrenia

  • Voice hearing in history and religion
    The experience of hearing voices unheard by others is probably as old as mankind and well known to the ancient Greeks, we also know it was commonly experienced in Egyptian and early Christian cultures, indeed until the eighteenth century the experience was regarded as divine rather than being considered a health issue.




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    1. Charles – June 08, 2007 @ 08:42 PM
      What is the difference between hearing voices and talking to yourself and having a conscience? Can someone not be taught about their conscience and misconstrue this with hearing voices?
    2. Paul – June 26, 2007 @ 05:15 PM
      Hi Charles As well as hearing voices through the ears, people also hear voices as if they are thoughts entering the mind from somewhere outside themselves. This is not the same as a suddenly inspired idea, which people usually recognise as coming from themselves, rather the thoughts are not their own and would seem to come from outside their own consciousness, like telepathy.

      A good example of this is the experience of recalling a rhyme or tune, which you find yourself repeating unconsciously under your breath and which keeps going through your head again and again. You can even find yourself humming it. You never took a decision to start thinking of it and it's difficult to stop thinking about it. The difference between the tune and "voice thought" which appears as words in your mind is that it may go on to speak coherently to you and even engage you in conversation. You, yourself are not responsible for it and you have no idea what this "voice" is going to say next.

      Another theory is held by Julian Jayne’s, an American psycholigst, he wrote a book called "The origins of consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral mind." Jayne’s believes that up until about 1300 BC and before the development of written language, hearing voices was common to all humanity and that the experience was all but eradicated by what we now know as consciousness.

      In his view the people who hear voices today are carriers of an evolutionary residue from this ancient time. However, that is only a theory to account for the fact voices were apparently widely heard and are less so to day, at least in the Western world.

      Best wishes

      paul

    3. John – August 02, 2007 @ 08:55 PM
      I am currently dealing with hearing voices. It's difficult to pin-point or even grasp the way to go about understanding this concept, but I guess I'm wondering if the voices are true, why don't they check out when I ask someone about their thoughts? They seem so real, but I'm hesitant to trust them...
    4. Mary – October 17, 2007 @ 07:02 PM
      To whom it may concern: Good morning. I hope you are well. I am a person who was a crime victum and I was exposed to environmental toxins. I was diagnosed with schizohrenia is about 1995. I recently learned from the voices which I call spirits, mind influecers, or what doctors call voices. They recently said that there are some of them who illegally communicate via my thoughts stealing, hurting and blaming me and public figures. I don't know if it can happen, but I would like to learn how to prevent those illegally communicating ones to never communicate with me ever again. Is there a for free method, belief, person or plaace to end illegal communication? I am at teh point again because of these spirits where I don't have money to pay my bills, buy food, or much else. A two dollar careful to go ask people to prary for me is a hardship to where I am unable to go. These illegally spirits hurt companies and wealthy people they blame me. They said me and my belongings are a wittness for what they have done. I know it sound unbelieveable, but spirits can hurt people by different methods. I was told they are preventing my psychic abilities. Please can you tell me how can I prevent illegal communication? Drugs DO NOT WORK NONE DOES THE MEDICAL FRIELD. Please don't consider medicine as a future these spirits are very powerful and in large numbers. I would appreciate any help you can offer. Some have said there is no disease of hearing voices. That these spirits are living entities, most maybe live in peace and respect. I would welcome any suggestions. Thank you for your considerations. Yours truly Mary
    5. Adrienne – November 08, 2007 @ 09:31 PM
      Hi Mary As a person who was exposed to toxins, you may be interested in the orthomolecular approace by Abram Hoffer. He has had great success using diet and nutrition and vitamins with people diagnosed as Schizophrenia. I met a behavioural nutritionist Woody McGinnis, whose research shows that toxins can cause side effects such as voices. Once again they used natural supplements to balance the body. I think of the voices sometimes as another of the bodies defence mechanisms, alerting us when we are out of balance, emotionally or physically. Some ancient people, saw all illnesses as spirits, rather than bacteria and viruses. Is this a subconscious symbolic way of getting our attention that something is wrong? sometimes by making ourselves healthier and stronger physically it an be reflected in our consciousness. Do not let the voices frighten you, They are in your consciousness, and because of this, you are the boss- not them. You get to make the overriding decision to what you do at all times, regardless of what they say. There is some very helpful information on this site on how people have helped themselves and others. Try these things out. Dont beleive what the voices say literally, as in ancient times their message can be symbolic. They say they are "Illegal" communicators. Just as the Environmental toxins, may also be considered illegal or foreign substances within your body. If you think this is why you ae sick, the maybe that s true,. Try finding people who help those who deal with getting the body right after such a experience. Those are just my own thoughts on the matter, I hope I may have given you some ideas. regards Adrienne
    6. missy grahm – March 17, 2008 @ 05:22 AM
      Hearing voices is nothing new. i see a theripest that saya they understand. but the truth is they dont understand. they are there there just hard as hell to distinguish what is real and what is just fantasies. and that is the hardest to come from. when no one noes the true pain or the truth it may never come to truely understand. exspecially when there talking and its about a life to few ever actually lived and lived to speak out.
    7. julie – June 16, 2008 @ 10:06 AM
      The words I have read in this website are truly welcome words, as if I came upon a welcome mat at a new door. Unfamiliar, treating me with indifference is the way I have perceived the mental health system experience. Sort of like I have felt left out for about 20 years. It's really good to know I do not stand alone. THANKS! To belong after all, I tried to tell the doctors but they just wouldn't listen! And I know they never will. We come from two different sides of the coin. But my experience is more important to me than the pennies that they throw. The only thing I learned from any of the psychiatrists was 'that they wanted me back in three weeks'. The other thing I learned from psychiatrists was patience. Patience to listen to the voices. They can't make them go away. Who do they think they are that they think they ever could? I know they must get paid an awful lot of money to try to. And my suffering doesn't bother them in the least. So, I look to the future in my chains. And I wonder how I can find another window for a brand new point of view.
    8. Ryan – February 02, 2009 @ 06:18 PM
      Hi, I don't really know if this is for real but everytime I'm sick and alone I start hearing sounds from when I was like three years old and I told my mum and she took me to the doctor and said that it was just ear wax but it only happens when I'm sick and alone.
    9. Jane – March 11, 2009 @ 10:39 PM
      Hi, this may sound random but occasionally I suddenly hear a sudden burst of a voice, as if I'm suddenly listening to someone who is in the middle of a conversation, sometimes I manage to remember a few words and other times I forget straight away. When I do remember, the words don't really make sense. For example the most recent thing I heard was "Is it the youngest" I don't recognise any of the voices and I don't think the voice is the same each time. Last time, I noticed that the voice seemed to come from behind me and to the right of me. I think it comes from the right all the time but I'm not sure. I can't find anything on the internet about voices that relates to my voices. Does anyone have any idea about this situation?
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