How do most parents react when their child talks about hearing voices?
When you find out that your child hears voices it can be devastating. Some parents have said it “felt like my whole world had collapsed." This reaction is understandable, for as parents we are naturally very protective of our children and do not want to see them distressed, hurt or confused. However, there is a crucial question that needs to be asked about why we react in this way when we discover a child is hearing voices.

Our reactions are based on information we have picked up about the meaning of hearing voices. Mostly these are based on assumptions held by society, especially the widely held belief that to hear voices is the same as the mental illness “schizophrenia”.

There is an even more important issue that you may not be aware of: hearing voices in itself is normal - but – it is possible to become ill from hearing voices if you cannot cope with them. This means that it is coping with hearing voices that is the problem and not the voices in themselves.

Normal” children and adults hear voices
This little known fact is based on a lot of research. Several large scale population (epidemiological) studies have shown that about 4 % of the population hears voices. Of these 4% of the people who hear voices about 30% seek assistance from mental health services. Amongst children however, even more of the “normal” population hears voices (8%) and as with adults about 30% are referred to mental health services.

What this means is that there are apparently many more people who hear voices who do not require the support of mental health services then those that do. This is because they can cope with the voices and function well in in their everyday lives.

Unfortunately, most of the information that we have about the experience of hearing voices comes exclusively from research with patients; people who obviously cannot cope with the voices and needed help. These are people who feel that the voices made them feel powerless and who were overwhelmed by them. This is the case for research for adults and children who are hearing voices. However, in other articles on this site you can find out more about people who can cope with their voices or even have positive experiences.

Hearing voices and traumatic experiences
In our research we found that a common theme in both groups (adults and children) is the high percentage of traumatic experiences that have been found to have been the trigger for hearing voices. In adults around 75% began to hear voices in relationship to a trauma or situation that made them feel powerless.

Examples of the kinds of traumas that trigger voices include the death of a loved one, divorce, losing a job, failing an exam, but also longer lasting situations like being physically, emotionally or sexually abused. With children the percentage was even higher at 85%, with some traumas specifically related to childhood. These traumas might include being bullied by peers or teachers, or being unable to perform at a certain level at school, another commonly reported traumatic incident related to hearing voices is being admitted to a hospital for long periods because of a physical illness.

I would say that hearing voices is mostly a reaction to a situation or a problem the child or young person cannot cope with.

It is a signal.

Voices as messengers
Another striking finding is that what the voices say often gives an indication of the problem that the child has.
An example:
The voices told an 8-year-old boy to blind himself. This frightened his mother. But when we discussed whether there was something in the life of the boy he could not face, she understood the voices message. The boy could not cope with the problematic marriage of his parents. He did not want to see it.

What we saw in our research is that if attention was given to the problems the child was facing, they will be able to establish a more constructive kind of relationship with the voices. As a result children become less afraid of their voices. When a child is able to consider the problems that are at the root of their distress and with the emotions and feelings involved, the voices stop being the child's only focus of attention.

For many children voices disappear over time
Recently I conducted a 3-year follow up study on 80 children who heard voices who were aged between 8 and 19 years of age. Half of this group of children were receiving mental health care because of their voices, however, the other half were not in care at all. I interviewed the children 4 times at yearly intervals. At the end of the research period 60% of the children I interviewed reported that the voices had disappeared.

Of course figures and statistics like this do not directly relate to you. But the overall message is that the chance that the voice might disappear is quite high.

We saw that the children's problems often stopped their development through the voice experience. However, if the problems were handled or their situation changed; for example because the child changed schools, the voices disappeared.

The voices may stay but children can cope with them
It is important that we appreciate that the the desire to make the voices disappear is a goal of the mental health care services and not necessarily that of the children themselves. There are some children who did not want to lose their voices. This is OK, for the most important thing is that the voices no longer remain at the centre of their attention. This is because as the relationship with the voices changed and became more positive, instead of hindering the child the voices start to take on an advisory role. If children find within themselves the resources to cope with their voices and the emotions involved with hearing them then they can lead happy and balanced lives.

Supporting your child
The most important element in the process of positively changing your child's relationship with their voice is the support they got from the family. Unfortunately, our research has shown that being in the mental health care system had no positive effect on the voices, although we did find that being referred to a psychotherapist who accepted the reality of the voices and were prepared to discuss their meaning with the child did have a positive influence on how the child coped with their voices.

We also saw that “normalising” the experience can help parents to deal with the voices – try not to think of it as a terrible disaster, but as a signal for something that is troubling your child and that can be resolved. On the other hand, if parents cannot accept that voice hearing in itself is normal, but believe the voices to be an illness and are afraid of the voices, then the child naturally picks up this feeling. Imagine for a moment if you were the child and were afraid of the voices and when you looked for support from your Mum and Dad you found that they were even even more afraid of the voices then you were. This would obviously put you under great pressure and probably mean that you would become reluctant about talking about your experiences at all.

There is a second problem,at if you are afraid of the voices then you can become obsessed with the fear of the voices alone and not what the voices mean. When you are distressed and anxious you cannot listen very well to the story your child tells about their experiences and may fail to pick up on the related problems and emotions that the voices represent.

In our experience what helps children the most is a systematic approach to understanding the voices. So to help we have developed an interview to help map the experience. This can be used as a way to understand the stress the child is under and then to work together to find solutions for the problems raised by the voice hearing experience..

More information
This information is just a brief introduction to a new way of thinking about children who hear voices that might help you to face the problems you have. If you want more information about the research, about the elements of the therapy that helped the children or you want a copy of the interview form we used to in our research to help you with your child please let us know.

Sandra Escher, MPhil, PhD.

1. Try not to over react, although you will be understandably worried, work hard not to communicate your anxiety to your child.

2. Accept the reality of the voice experience for your child: Ask them about their voices, how long they have been hearing them, who or what they are, do they have names, what they say etc.

3. Let your child know that lots of children hear voices and mostly they go away after a while.

4. Even if the voices do not disappear your child can learn to live in harmony with his/her voices

5. It is important to breakdown your child's sense of isolation and differentness from other children. Your child is special, unusual perhaps, but normal.

6. Find out if your child has any difficulties or problems that they are finding very hard to cope with and work on trying to fix these problems. Think back to when the voices first started, what was happening to your child when they first heard voices? When did the voices arise for the first time? Was there anything unusual or stressful that might have occurred?

7. If you think you need outside help, find a therapist who is prepared to accept your child's experience and work with your child in a systematic way to understanding and cope with their voices better.

8. Be ready to listen to your child if they want to talk about their voices and use drawing, painting, acting and other creative ways to help them describe what is happening to them.

9. Get on with your lives and try not to let the voice experience become the centre of your child's life or your own.

10. Most children who live well with their voices have supportive families living around them who accept the experience as part of who their child is. You can do this too!

More articles about children and young people who hear voices here.

Further reading about children who hear voices from Sandra and other researchers
Sandra Escher , Marius Romme, Alex Buiks, Philippe Delespaul, Jim van Os (2002)., Formation of delusional ideation in adolescents hearing voices: A prospective study. American Journal of Medical Genetics, Neuropsychiatric Genetics, Volume 114, Issue 8 , Pages 913 - 920

S. Escher, M. Romme, A. Bunks & P. Delespaul, J Van Os; Independent course of childhood auditory hallucinations: a sequential 3-year follow-up study (2004), The British Journal of Psychiatry (2002) 181: s10-s18

Kotsopoulos, S., Kanigsberg, J., Cote, A., Fiedorowicz, C., Hallucinatory Experiences in Non psychotic Children, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, May 1987, 26 (3), 375–380

McGee, R., Williams, S. & Poulton, R. (2000) Hallucinations in non psychotic children (letter). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 12-13

Mertin P., Hartwig, S (2004) Auditory Hallucinations in Nonpsychotic Children: Diagnostic Considerations Child and Adolescent Mental Health, February 2004, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 9-14(6)

Pearson, D., Burrow, A., FitzGerald, C., Green, K., Lee, G., Wise, N. (2007) Auditory Hallucinations in Normal Child Populations Personality & Individual Differences, Aug. 2001, Special Issue, 31(3), 401 -407

Schreier, H. A., Hallucinations in Non psychotic Children: More Common Than We Think? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, May 1999, 38 (5), 623–625

Vickers, B., Garralda, E. (2000) Hallucinations in Nonpsychotic Children Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Sept. 2000, 39 (9), 1073

Normal people and hearing voices
Barret T.R and Etheridge J.B (1992) Verbal hallucinations in Normals I: People who hear voices Applied Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 6, pp. 379-387

Vanessa Beavan, John Read and Claire Cartwright (2006)Angels at our tables: A summary of the findings from a 3-year research project into New Zealanders’ Experiences of Hearing Voices, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Eaton W.W., Romanoski A., Anthony J.C., Nestadt G. (1991), Screening for psychosis in the general population with a self report interview, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, No. 179, pp 689 693

Feelgood, S. R. and Rantzen, A. J. Auditory and Visual Hallucinations in University Students Personality and Individual Differences, 1994, Vol. 17 (2): 293-296

Honig, A.; Romme. M.; Ensink, B.; Escher, S.; Pennings, M.; Devries, M.W. (1998): Auditory Hallucinations: A Comparison between Patients and Nonpatients. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 186 (10), 646-651 Posey T.B. and Losch M.E. (1984), Auditory hallucinations of hearing voices in 375 normal subjects Imagination, Cognition and Personality, vol 3, no.2, pp. 99 113

Tien A.Y. (1991) Distributions of hallucinations in the population Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, No.26, pp. 287 292

John Watkins: Hearing voices - A Common Human Experience: published in 1998 by Hill of Content Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, ISBN 0-85572-288-6

J. Watkins; M. Romme; S. Escher (2003). Hearing voices: A common human experience. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 57, Issue 2 March 2003 , pages 157 - 159

Copyright 2008 Sandra Escher

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