A 10 Point Check-List
May 17, 2011 | Parents
What you can do if your child tells you they are hearing voices
- Try not to over react, although you will be understandably worried, work hard not to communicate your anxiety to your child.
- 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.
- Let your child know that lots of children hear voices and mostly they go away after a while.
- Even if the voices do not disappear your child can learn to live in harmony with his/her voices
- It is important to breakdown your child’s sense of isolation and differentness from other children. Your child is special, unusual perhaps, but normal.
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- Get on with your lives and try not to let the voice experience become the centre of your child’s life or your own.
- 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!
Tags: Advice, Children, Parents, Support, Young People
This is so helpful. Thank you so much.
very very reassuring thank you
my 13 year old told me today, when I asked, that he hears voices. He has been bullied since grade school the worst being in 4th and 6th grade. I want to be open to him as I also have dealt with voices over the years in myself. I was sexually abused at an early age until I was 18. I am a christian and sometimes these matters get confused in my head. I know my voices helped me cope with the two worlds I lived in. My nephew was just diagnosed at age 24 with schizophrenia. I will admit this worries me about my own son.
Thank you for your website about voices in children, I have always felt different than other people, but have never been afraid of my voices. I do take medication for anxiety, very low dose. My son does have ADHD and does take ritalin for this during the day so he can focus at school.