L
Last updated 15/06/2007
A-Z by authors name Click on letter
A B C D E F G H J K L M N O P R S T W V Y
L
Lakeman, R. (2006). Adapting Psychotherapy to Psychosis. *"Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 5, 1":http://www.auseinet.com/journal/vol5iss1/lakeman.pdf*
Lee T.M., Chong S.A., Chan Y.H., Sathyadevan G. Command Hallucinations Among Asian Patients with Schizophrenia Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, December 2004, 49(12):838-42
OBJECTIVES: The impact of command hallucinations on patients and the determinants of patients' compliance with them are still poorly understood. The extant literature is also divided on their association with violence. This study aimed to establish the prevalence of command hallucinations and to identify the factors that affect compliance with the commands, together with patients' coping methods.
METHODS: We recruited 50 consecutive male and 50 consecutive female schizophrenia inpatients who reported hearing voices in the 6 months prior to admission. We interviewed these patients, using a semistructured questionnaire. We collected information on the contents of their auditory hallucinations and their coping methods.
RESULTS:
Of the patients, 53 (53%) reported command hallucinations. Of these 53 patients, 58% were women and 48% were men; 62% reported complying with the commands. They were also more likely to comply with nonviolent commands. A history of self-harm predicted compliance. Those patients who did not comply with the commands adopted various methods of coping, of which praying was the most common.
CONCLUSION:
Command hallucinations are common in patients with schizophrenia. Patients with a history of self-harm need closer monitoring because they may be more likely to comply with these hallucinations. Assessment should also include the patient's own coping strategies, which can be incorporated into the treatment.
I Leudar, P Thomas and M. Johnston: Self Repair for in dialogues of schizophrenics: effects of hallucinations and negative symptoms, (1992) Brain and Language 43: 487 - 511
Ivan Leudar and Phil Thomas: Guidlines for establishing pragmatic aspects of voices - voice hearer talk (1994) Manchester: department of psychology, University of Manchester
I Leudar, P. Thomas and M. Johnston: Self monitoring in speech production: effects of verbal hallucinations and negative symptoms (1994) Psychological Medicine
I Leudar, P. Thomas, D. McNally and A. Glinsky: What can voices do with words? Pragmatics of verbal hallucinations (1997) Psychological Medicine
Abstract
Background. In this paper we consider verbal hallucinations as inner speech with pragmatics. The specific pragmatic properties of verbal hallucinations investigated included the number of voices, the
characteristics that individuate the voices, the sequential characteristics of the dialogues between voice hearers and their voices, the dialogical positioning of voices hearers, voices and other individuals, and how the voices influence voice hearers' activities.
Methods. These properties were examined in structured interviews with 28 individuals, 14 of whom had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, while 14 were students who did not use psychiatric services.
Results. The analysis showed that voices were most frequently individuated with reference to individuals significant to voice hearers. The talk with voices was typically mundane and related to voice hearers' on-going activities, as is the case for ordinary inner speech. The voices were typically orientated towards the voice hearer, without direct access to each other or to other people. Contrary to received wisdom, the voices typically did not impel actions of voice hearers, rather they influenced voice hearers' decisions on how to act. This was so irrespective of the diagnostic status of informants. Finally, we have found some differences between the voices of informants with, and without, schizophrenia. These concerned the alignment of voices, the type of action required by a voice and the degree of dialogical engagement between voices and voice hearers.
Conclusions. We conclude that verbal hallucinations can be fruitfully considered to be a genus of inner speech. Pragmatics can be used as a framework to distinguish verbal hallucinations in different populations.
Ivan Leudar and Philip Thomas: 'Voices of Reason, Voices of Insanity - Studies of Verbal Hallucinations' (2000) published by Routledge/Psychological Press.
Abstract
Records of people experiencing verbal hallucinations or hearing voices can be found throughout history. "Voices of Reason, Voices of Insanity" examines almost 2,800 years of these reports including Socrates, Schreber and Pierre Janet's "Marcelle," to provide a clear understanding of the experience and how it may have changed over the millenia. Through six cases of historical and contemporary voice hearers, Leudar and Thomas demonstrate how the experience has metamorphosed from being a sign of virtue to a sign of insanity, signalling such illnesses as schizophrenia or dissociation. They argue that the experience is interpreted by the voice hearer according to social categories conveyed through language, and is therefore best studied as a matter of language use. Controversially, they conclude that 'hearing voices' is an ordinary human experience which is unfortunately either mystified or pathologised. "Voices of Reason, Voices of Insanity" offers a fresh perspective on this enigmatic experience and will be of interest to students, researchers and clinicians alike.
Lineham T., (1993): Hearing is Believing, New Statesman and Society, 26.3.93, pp.18 19
Lockhart A. R. (1975): Mary's Dog is an Ear Mother: Listening to the Voices of Psychosis, Psychological Perspectives Vol. 6, No 2, pp.144 160