Biographies and Abstracts (2) L - V 0
Last updated 106/08/2009
This is part two of the list of speakers and abstracts. Click on the name of the speaker to read their biography and abstract. The speakers are listed in alphabetical order. Please note that some abstracts have yet to be received.
Prof Tanya Luhrmann (USA) Spirituality, trauma and psychosis
J. Mantle (UK): Hearing voices as a reaction to abuse
R. May (UK): Transformation of emotions linked to the different voices
Dr Rebecca Morland (UK): How people experience hearing voices groups
Dr. A. Moskowitz (UK), Auditory hallucinations: Psychotic symptom or dissociative experience?
Odette Nightsky (AU): Shamanic view of schizophrenia
Ronnie Nilsen (N), Geir Fredriksen (N) Focus on the therapeutic relationship and trauma treatment
Prof. Dr. J. van Os (NL): Salience disregulation syndrome
Pino Pini, Donnatella Miccinesi (I) Support group activities in Italy
Prof. John Read (NZ): Hearing voices and emotional neglect
Prof. Marius Romme (B): What do voices hearers need to recover?
Olga Runciman ( DK): How to spin an illusion?
S. Rutten (NL): The need for assessing positive hallucinations
W. Sato (JP): The Japanese solution
J. Schnackenberg (G): An introduction course in working with voices
Rochelle Suri (USA): What does transpersonal psychology have to say?
Karen Taylor (UK): Who else needs to recover? The professional?
Jo Temple & Dave Harper (UK)Clairaudience in the Spiritualist Church: When hearing spirits is a culturally sanctioned experience
Ros Thomas and young voice hearers (AU): The HARD project; a young people’s recovery programme
Alain Topor (S): Breaking the rules; how time works in the recovery process
J. Watkins (AU): Using medication wisely
R. Weddingham (UK): Setting up and facilitating hearing voices groups in London
A. Welling (NL): What can transpersonal psychology offer?
Dr. G. v.d. Willige (NL) Effectiveness of the HIT-programme
J. Woolthuis (NL): Recognizing ones own emotions expressed by voices
E. Vanholmer (DK), J. Sparvang (DK), A. Schakow (DK), T. Eyles (DK)Recovery promoted by Hearing Voices groups in Denmark
Biographies and Abstracts (1) here
Prof Tanya Luhrmann (USA): Depts Anthropology and Psychology, Stanford University, California, USA, an anthropologist with long ethographic experience with psychiatry, psychosis and religion.
Abstract: Spirituality, trauma and psychosis Back in the era when psychoanalysis dominated American psychiatry and symptoms were vehicles of meaning, not by products of the broken brain, many people—anthropologists and others—assuming that modern society’s schizophrenia was non-modern society’s shamanism. Then the culture of psychiatry changed. The new biomedical psychiatry created strict boundaries between the “truly” sick and those who can function with culturally appropriate behavior. By the criteria of modern biomedical psychiatry, the shaman can usually not be diagnosed as schizophrenic. Modern American psychiatry, while perhaps admitting that there is a cultural range to hallucinatory experiences, would nonetheless insist upon the psychological difference between the dissociative voices heard as the result of trauma (experienced ‘inside’ the head), the voices of psychosis (experienced ‘outside’ the head) and the inspirational, sought after voices and visions of spiritual experience. At the same time, our increasing research sophistication has lead to the realization that the boundaries between spirituality, trauma and psychosis might not be as clear as the biomedical paradigm suggests, and yet clear enough to distinguish distinct subtypes.
This paper uses rich ethnographic fieldwork in contemporary experiential evangelical Christianity and empirical work among Christians to discuss the range of unusual sensory experiences—in particular, auditory sensory experiences—and their associations. In particular, it argues that a proclivity for absorption may be associated with some voice-hearing experiences and not others. Roughly one third of the ethnographic sample and one half of the empirical sample report at least one form of unusual sensory experience. For the most part, these phenomena are patterned in different ways than those phenomena described as “psychotic.” Nevertheless, these are complex distinctions and there is a small category of persons who hears or sees often, but exhibits no signs of psychosis (Claridge identifies such persons as “schizotype,” although the name implies more pathology than he intends.). Some psychiatrists interpret all such unusual symptoms as evidence of vulnerability towards psychosis. This evidence of different patterns of experiences suggests that the phenomenon may be more complicated. In fact, the ethnographic evidence suggests that unusual sensory experiences may have a relationship to training or practice. .
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J. Mantle (UK)
Abstract: Hearing voices as a reaction to abuse Some difficulties encountered on the rocky road to recovery …. and why not to give up.
Coming from a small island a hundred miles from the south coast of England, I had been finding it difficult to find other voice-hearers willing to share their experiences and was feeling very isolated. I had begun working with a therapist who was keen to help me deal with the many upsetting consequences of hearing voices. He was the first person I had met who was happy to look at the voices in a non medical way. He gave me a new diagnosis - chronic post traumatic stress disorder. He encouraged me to get as much help from as many sources as possible, and as a result I started attending conferences in England (though this has proved difficult financially, since I am unwaged). I have managed to attend about one conference a year since 2005, and these have been a great help in my battle to manage the voices better. I have been inspired by meeting other service users who are determined to overcome their problems and who challenge their unhelpful diagnoses.
But …..I have always wanted to hear more about the difficulties other people experience in learning to live with these experiences, as I know that I am not the only one who has struggled. If we only talk about people who have made complete recoveries, those of us who are still trying (and sometimes failing) can be left feeling somewhat discouraged. That is why I would like to give a workshop where we can discuss some of the difficulties encountered on the rocky road to recovery and ways of overcoming them, and not only talk about the 100% success stories (inspiring though these are)
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Rufus May (UK):Dr Rufus May (www.rufusmay.com) is a clinical psychologist working in adult mental health for Bradford District Care Trust. He has an interest in psychological approaches to hearing voices, unusual beliefs and disassociative states of mind. He has worked extensively with hearing voices groups and individuals. He has an interest in using the voice dialogue approach and mindfulness and offers training in these approaches. He is also interested in developing public understanding of mental health issues. His work was featured in the Channel 4 documentary 'The Doctor Who Hears Voices'. He is an organiser of Evolving Minds, a public meeting about different approaches to mental health. He is also one of the contributers to www.comingoff.com a website that offers information about ways to approach psychiatric medication reduction. As well as writing abouthis approahc to mental health, he has also written about his own psychotic experiences when he was and his recovery process.
Abstract: Transformation of emotions linked to the different voices This workshop is based on the assumption that voices are messengers about emotions that the voice hearer needs to give voice to. The workshop aims to consider how voice hearers can work with the underlying emotions and integrate them. A voice that tells someone to kill themselves may be expressing anger the person has not been able to express about their life. If the person can learn to express and process their feelings needs, angry voices will calm down. Sometimes voices that urge suicide represent angry feelings the person harbours towards themselves. So here there is a need to forgive themselves or develop compassion for themselves. Voices that are cruel and bullying are likely to represent past relationships that have been of a similar nature. Here the task is to build a sense of self that is resilient. Role play and positive self talk can help. Developing ways to express emotions and needs is also very important. Ways to do this will be discussed. Voices that are manipulative are likely to represent past or present relationships where the person has felt manipulated. Learning ways to be more assertive about one's true feelings and needs will be important. Challenging voices are often messengers about past tragedies and or injustices. Where there has been injustice finding ways to give voice to this is important. Difficult voices may elicit strong feelings of fear and resentment, these also need to be transformed. The person may benefit from developing a strong but calm attitude towards their voices. Ways of developing a compassionate attitude to difficult voices will be discussed.
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Dr Rebecca Morland:Counselling Psychologist, UK
Abstract: How people experience hearing voices groups Research about how people experience being part of a hearing voices group and how people’s beliefs about their voices are connected to their schemas
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Dr. A. Moskowitz (UK)Ph.D. University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom: Andrew is a clinical psychologist, trained in the United States, with clinical and research experience in post-traumatic, psychotic and personality disorders, currently employed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mental Health at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. In addition to teaching medical students, he provides individual and group psychotherapy, and works regularly with persons hearing voices. Andrew is the lead editor of an important new book on the connections between trauma, dissociation and psychosis, and has written extensively on interpreting psychotic symptoms, including voices, from a trauma/dissociation perspective.
Abstract: Auditory hallucinations: Psychotic symptom or dissociative experience? While auditory hallucinations are considered a core psychotic symptom, central to the diagnosis of schizophrenia, it has long been recognized that persons who are not psychotic may also hear voices. There is an entrenched clinical belief that distinctions can be made between these groups, typically, on the basis of the perceived location or the ‘third-person’ perspective of the voices. While it is generally believed that such characteristics of voices have significant clinical implications, and are important in the differential diagnosis between dissociative and psychotic disorders, there is no research evidence in support of this. Voices heard by persons diagnosed schizophrenic appear to be indistinguishable, on the basis of their experienced characteristics, from voices heard by persons with dissociative disorders or by persons with no mental disorder at all. On this and other bases outlined in this talk, it is argued that hearing voices should be considered a dissociative experience, which under some conditions may have pathological consequences. In other words, while voices may occur in the context of a psychotic disorder, they should not be considered a psychotic symptom.
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Odette Nightsky (Australia): is a trained Shamanic guide and an advanced member of The College of Past Life Healing and associated Therapies UK. She is an accredited Flower Essence Practitioner with The Flower Essence Society of Nevada California, and works with CATF (Community Awareness Task Force) to assist in bringing more awareness to Mental Health care. Currently residing in Byron Bay Australia, Odette’s’ main goal is to see that Sensitive Services International fills a gap in the industry that is sorely needed.
Abstract: Shamanic view of schizophrenia Shamanist, writer, researcher. Has experienced voices in my late twenties and since then have been researching, educating, counselling and for the last year working within the system (for more research). This will include my own story, support from a grounded spiritual perspective, indigenous views as well as research of Australian Aboriginal views.
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Ronnie Nilsen (N), Geir Fredriksen (N)
Ronnie Nilsen (N), Geir Fredriksen (N):Ronny Nilsen: Ex psychiatric patient and voice hearer. To day he doesn`t have any contact with the mental health system. He doesn’t use antipsychotic medication or other medication. Geir Margido Fredriksen: Sosial worker and psychodrama therapist. He has a Masters degree in voice hearing and has written a book “Mestringsbok for stemmehørere”. He works in the mental health system with voice hearers, in groups and individually.
Abstract: Focus on the therapeutic relationship and trauma treatment Ronny and Geir will lecture, play guitars and sing. In the lecture will Ronny first talk about his experience of hearing voices and his experience with the mental health care. How we together worked with his voices and how he gradual took control over his voices and life. We want to focus on the important topics in the therapeutic process, what the effects was, with focus on our relation and trauma treatment. We will also say something about how music became important for us and in his recovery.
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Prof. Dr. J. van Os (NL):
Abstract: Salience disregulation syndrome
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Pino Pini, Donnatella Miccinesi (I)
Pino Pini, Donnatella Miccinesi (I): Pino is part of Mental Health Europe and Donatella Miccinesi is from the Italian Association for Mental Health (AISMe)
Abstract: Support group activities in Italy We will present an update of our work in Prato and Florence during the last fifteen years with people who hear voices. We will describe the development of our mental health association AISMe and the relationships with other associations wanting to share our experience with voice hearers. Some relationships with the mental health services, with the GPs, with the social workers, will be also described. Finally we will speak about our international local mental health system project which continues to be the main frame of our work and the guarantee of a positive developments within our local context
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Prof. John Read (NZ):
Abstract: Hearing voices and emotional neglect
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Prof. Marius Romme (B): Professor Marius Romme MD PhD was Professor for Social Psychiatry at the Medical Faculty of the Univeisity of Maastricht (Netherlands) from 1974 to 1999, as well as consultant psychiatrist at the Community mental Health Centre in Maastricht. He is now Visiting Professor at the Mental Health Policy Centre, University of Central England in Birmingham. He is best known for his work on hearing voices (auditory hallucinations) and is regarded as the founder and principle theorist for the Hearing Voices Movement.
Abstract: What do voices hearers need to recover?
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Olga Runciman ( DK): Olga Runciman, voice hearer, trainer and chair of HVN, Denmark, she says she was given the label of schizophrenia and spent ten years living within that context. Today she has not only recovered but have gone on to thrive. She has her own business working for change through education and information. She also works as a recovery coach at Slotsvænget a psychiatric halfway house and she is a part time university student studying to become a qualified psychologist. She isalso the chairperson for the Danish Hearing Voices Network.
Abstract: How to spin an illusion? Why do consumers never get to hear about the non glossy side of medication research and evidence? I believed that what I was taught about antipsychotics was based on sound, evidence based science. I believed the experts when they said we know how help the chemical defect in the brains of those they called mad. I believed and thus it never occurred to me to question the validity of the medical model of mental distress. That is until I became a victim of mental distress and discovered to my detriment the failings of the medical model and its medical treatment, for it incapacitated me.
Working as I do today with other voice hearers I have since found out that I am not alone in this experience that all around me in the many institutions are to be found victims of this biological model of distress who say this does not help yet they are never heard. They and my own experience has therefore led me to investigate the basis of the medical treatment of voice hearers and what I found out has shocked me. I see how powerful the pharmaceutical companies are in not only creating an extremely lucrative market based on mental distress but that this market is almost devoid of true scientific evidence.
In my presentation I will be looking at the history of antipsychotic medication, for without the historical perspective the present has little meaning. I will look at the evidence, or rather lack of, for a biochemical explanation of mental distress and hearing voices and why in spite of this lack of evidence the medical model of mental distress still dominates. I will also be looking at voice hearing and the pharmaceutical industry who are they really helping? Finally I ask, what can be done about it?
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S. Rutten (NL):
Abstract: The need for assessing positive hallucinations
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Wakio Sato (JP):
Abstract: The Japanese solution
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J. Schnackenberg (G)
Abstract: An introduction course in working with voices
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Rochelle Suri (USA): PhD student in psychology, she holds a M.A degree in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she also currently pursues a Ph.D in East West Psychology. She has lived in San Francisco for 7 years, before which she resided in India and the United Arab Emirates. Being exposed to several cultures and ethnicities, Rochelle has enormous experience working with diverse populations and minorities. She is currently pursuing her Marriage and Family Therapist license in the state of California. Rochelle is dedicated towards integrating western psychology and eastern spirituality within the realms of her psychotherapy practice. She has worked with the geriatric population for over 4 years. Currently, Rochelle is involved in her ongoing research on auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia, a paper she has also presented at the First Global Conference on Madness in Oxford, England.
Abstract: What does transpersonal psychology have to say? Hearing voices or auditory hallucinations have been considered and investigated from various schools or branches of psychology. Psychoanalysis, cognitive-behavioral psychology, neuropsychology, humanistic psychology and psychiatry (among other branches), have shed light on the nature and causes of hearing voices. These disciplines have sought to discover means of managing or coping with the voices, providing sufficient literature on the same (see Bentall, 2003; Fadiman & Kewman, 1979; Romme; 1993).
However, there appears to be a dearth of research and literature on transpersonal perspectives on hearing voices. Transpersonal Psychology, considered the fourth force of psychology, provides a unique view of hearing voices, respecting the voice hearers and their experience. Simultaneously, transpersonal psychology is concerned with finding ways to integrate the experience of voice hearing into the individual’s day-to-day life. Nonetheless, as a branch of psychology, transpersonal psychology has been overlooked by psychologists who are primarily interested in the behavioral, developmental and cognitive facets of the human experience.
Hence, this paper aims to illuminate the contributions of transpersonal psychology to the experience of hearing voices. Elaborating on the tenets of transpersonal psychology, as well as focusing on the etiology, nature and approaches to hearing voices from a transpersonal lens, this paper will highlight a radical perspective on voice hearing. Transpersonal and spiritual implications of voice hearing will be discussed, as well as the pioneering work of Grof (2000), Jung (1960), Lukoff (1985) and Nelson (1994). Transpersonal approaches within psychotherapy will also be elucidated through brief case examples.
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Karen Taylor (UK):Karen is an RMN with 16 years experience in the NHS in England with both older people and adults of working age. Karen has personal experience of designing, implementing and managing innovative community care services. After leaving the NHS, Karen managed the company ‘Keepwell Ltd’ for 2 years, where she ran a psychosis resolution service based on recovery and co-authored the workbook, ‘Working to Recovery’. Karen has also been involved in introducing Recovery Training into Australia, New Zealand, Palestine, Denmark and Italy as well as throughout the United Kingdom. Based in Scotland, Karen is Director of ‘Working to Recovery Ltd, alongside Ron Coleman
Abstract: Who else needs to recover? The professional?
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Jo Temple & Dave Harper (UK):
Abstract: Clairaudience in the Spiritualist Church: When hearing spirits is a culturally sanctioned experience
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Ros Thomas and young voice hearers (Australia)
Ros Thomas and young voice hearers (Australia):Young People's Community Support Worker plus young people she works with.
Abstract: The HARD project; a young people’s recovery programme Experiences of Recovery, documentary and discussion with young people who use the service presenting their Recovery Stories. They will show a documentary on how young people can share their stories with other young people who are overwhelmed by their experiences work and inspire them. Also will involve a musical performance. What has helped and what has hindered.
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Alain Topor (S):Alain Topor, originally stimulated the approach in Sweden and coordinated the translation and publication of ‘Making Sense of Voices’ into Swedish, also researches recovery.
Abstract: Breaking the rules; how time works in the recovery process
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John Watkins (Australia):John Watkins has practiced as a mental health counsellor and educator for more than twenty-five years. He has a particular interest in researching and promoting holistic approaches to understanding and treating mental illness and regularly conducts training courses and workshops based on holistic principles. His previous books include Living With Schizophrenia and Hearing Voices: A Common Human Experience.
Abstract: Using medication wisely
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R. Weddingham (UK):
Abstract: Setting up and facilitating hearing voices groups in London
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A. Welling (NL):
Abstract: What can transpersonal psychology offer?
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Dr. G. v.d. Willige (NL):
Abstract: Effectiveness of the HIT-programmeAuditory vocal hallucinations are rather persistent due to both non-compliance and insufficient effectiveness of existing therapies. Even the effectiveness of CBT on AVH appeared not significantly better than TAU in most RCT’s.
The HIT model has integrated specific motivation strategies for non-compliance, medication, CBT, family treatment and social rehabilitation. The model offers accessibility of outreach treatment all days around the clock.
After 9 months of treatment, the results appeared significantly better than TAU on subjective burden, control of voices, quality of life, and hallucinations (E.S. = .71,NNT=2), disorganisation (E.S. = .63), depression (E.S. = .47, NNT = 4), Total PANNS score (NNT=5).
Results could be maintained upon 18 months follow-up. At that time social functioning in the HIT group was significantly better than among controls (NNT = 7). Social functioning improved more than 20% in the majority of HIT patients, while non improvement was found in the control group.
The HIT model appeared cost effective.
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J. Woolthuis (NL):
Abstract: Recognizing ones own emotions expressed by voices
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E. Vanholmer (DK), J. Sparvang (DK), A. Schakow (DK), T. Eyles (DK)
E. Vanholmer (DK), J. Sparvang (DK), A. Schakow (DK), T. Eyles (DK): Trevor Eyles, Elisabeth Svanholmer, Johnny Sparvang and Anders Schakow are from Denmark. Trevor Eyles is developmental consultant employed in Social Psychiatry in Aarhus to work solely with voice-hearers, to implement services, and to teach a growing group of professionals in the greater Aarhus area.
Abstract: Recovery promoted by Hearing Voices groups in Denmark Three voice hearers (Elisabeth Svanholmer, Johnny Sparvang and Anders Schakow) have all learned to cope with their voices in different ways whilst working closely with mental health services. They will give a candid view of their respective recovery processes, including discussing the obstacles thrown up along the way.
Biographies and abstracts (1) A - L 0
Last updated 10/08/2009
This is part one of the list of speakers and abstracts. Click on the name of the speaker to read their biography and abstract. The speakers are listed in alphabetical order. Please note that some abstracts have yet to be received.
Johanna Turner Baker (UK): Meaning of voices in a student population
Johanna Turner Baker (UK) currently working as a part time research assistant at the University of Manchester and as a therapeutic horticulturist in schools around Manchester.
Abstract: Meaning of voices in a student population In this talk I will be presenting three cases chosen from ongoing research on hearing voices in a student population. During the study I have been interviewing in depth students who reported hearing voices. In this talk I will focus on instances where the interviewees simply hear their own name called. This experience is fairly common and seems too simple for comment. Yet, the meaning voice hearers ascribe to such voices can vary and be quite complex and personally significant. The talk focuses on and documents the methods that voice hearers use to endow these experiences with meaning. The main source of meaning is contextualisation of the experience in a variety of contexts, that include the physical here-and-now, the extended present and person’s biography. These experiences happen as part of people’s day to day lives, so I will look at how hearing one’s name called might alter their experience at the time. I will also report on social resources that people use to explain these ‘unusual experiences’. These include medical, psychological and spiritual representations of hearing voices. The point of the research is to normalise the experience – none of the informants had any diagnosable psychological problems.
A. Bartels (NL):
Abstract: Psychosomatic characteristics of the HV rating scale
A. Bartels (NL): Psychosomatic characteristics of the HV rating scale
Prof. Dr. Richard Bentall (UK): Why relationships matter: The crucial role of the therapeutic alliance in helping people with psychosis
Wiktor Berg (N): What helps people to recover; the recovery journey
Dr. Lisa Blackman (UK): Voices and the concept of the 'double-brain
W. Boevink (NL): The TREE program; Towards Recovery, Empowerment and Experimental Expertise
F. Brummans (NL) :17 benefits of a hearing voices group
Prof. R. Buccheri (USA) and Prof. Louise Trygstad (USA): 10 session course teaching behaviour strategy
Peter Bullimore (UK): The importance of the 3 stages of voice hearing and paranoia
M. Chawla (UK): Voice hearing due to childhood issues and getting over-diagnosed as schizophrenia
Jim Chapman (UK), Mervyn Morris (UK): Recovery based working with voices
Ron Coleman (UK): Owning our experience; taking back power
Dr. Dirk Corstens (NL): Making sense: a systematic method to exploring the function of the voices
Jacqui Dillon (UK): The experienced trauma treatment according to J. Herman’s book ’Trauma and recovery’
Dr .Sandra Escher (NL): A training model in interviewing voice hearers about their experience
Dr. Sandra Escher (NL): Preventive changes with children hearing voices
Brendan Georgeson (UK): A Case Study; successfully working with a woman hearing voices in a residential drug/alcohol rehab
Tilly Gerritsma (NL), Titus Rivas (NL): Voices and inspiration, voices and emotions
Dr. J. Gerritsma (NL): An introduction course in accepting voices
L. v.d. Giessen (NL), W. v. Staalen (NL): Hearing voices related to severe abuse
Heather Glancy (UK): The Benefits of Women-only Hearing Voices Groups
Lia Govers (I): Achieving full recovery through becoming aware of meaning
Wilton Hall (USA): Coming off medication; a harm reduction approach
Paul Hammersley (UK): Campaign for the abolition of the schizophrenia label
B. Hartnett (IR): The Irish solution
Jacqueline Hayes (UK): Hearing voices in bereavement
M. Haywood (UK): Understanding voices in a relational framework
Douglas Holmes (Australia): Understanding voices in a relational framework
Mike Jackson, Katie Thornton (UK): Comparing benign and pathological voices
Marlene Janssen (Australia) Hearing voices and self-care
Dr. J. Jenner (NL): Illustration and amplification of the HIT-programme
Dr. Simon Jones (UK): Emanuel Swedenborg and his experiences
B. Kårkvik (N), A. Kalhoven (N), F. Leroi (N), K. Hugdahl (N), E. Vedul-Kjelsås (N): Prevalence of hearing voices in the normal population
Dr. Julie Kirby (UK): The experience of voice-hearing
F. Laroi (B): Emotion regulation trauma and hallucination proneness
Prof. Ivan Leudar (UK): The sources of meaning in voice hearing
Eleanor Longden (UK): Adopting a non-judgemental and tolerant acceptance to voice hearing
Prof. Dr. A. Loonen (NL): Do neurolepetics work?
S. Luckwell (AU): Developing awareness in relations to one’s voices
Biographies and Abstracts (2) here
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Prof. Dr. Richard Bentall (UK): holds a Chair in Clinical psychology at the University of Bangor, Wales, UK. He is particularly well known for his work on psychosis, delusions and hallucinations and has published extensively in this area. He also has an interest in differences between human and animal pedagogy and the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome. In 1989 he was awarded the British Psychological Society's 'May Davidson Award' for contributions to the field of clinical psychology. He has edited and authored several books, most notably the recent Madness Explained, which was winner of the British Psychological Society Book Award 2004.
Abstract: Why relationships matter: The crucial role of the therapeutic alliance in helping people with psychosis
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Wiktor Berg (N): Wiktor Berg is a clinical social worker and therapist, Northern Norway, Clinical social worker. Master degree in social work in 2007. For the last seven years working as a therapist in a sub- acute department at a psychiatrich hospital in the north of Norway. More precisly at Nordlandssykehuset HF in Bodø in the county of Nordland.
Abstract: What helps people to recover; the recovery journey What has been important factors for these people who have recovered from a serious mental illness, with a special focus on their daily living, which personal characteristics have been useful and which coping strategies have they developed. Other topics have been to which degree and in which way other people have been important. And what do the interviewees think themselves regarding the period they were ill.
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Dr. Lisa Blackman (UK) Senior Lecturer in Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, she works at the intersection of critical psychology and cultural theory and is particularly interested in subjectivity, affect, the body and embodiment. She has published two books in this area, Hearing Voices: Embodiment and Experience (Free Association Books) and Mass Hysteria: Critical Psychology and Media Studies (with Valerie Walkerdine; Palgrave).
Abstract: Voices and the concept of the 'double-brain What has been left out or silenced in psychiatry's engagement with this issue? I will focus on Julian Jayne's book, The Bicameral Mind, and explore how this concept has re-emerged in contemporary psychiatric discourse, albeit, silencing the important aspects of Jayne's work which allow an engagement with voices as potential sources of inspiration/creativity and trauma/abuse. This is part of my current book which is exploring how the hearing of voices can be both containing and yet also disturbing and how these embodied experiences can be approached more relationally through techniques which work through more non-cognitive registers.
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W. Boevink (NL):
Abstract: The TREE program; Towards Recovery, Empowerment and Experimental Expertise The HIT model has integrated specific motivation strategies for non-compliance, medication, CBT, family treatment and social rehabilitation. The model offers accessibility of outreach treatment all days around the clock.
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F. Brummans (NL):
Abstract: 17 benefits of a hearing voices group
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Prof. R. Buccheri (USA) and Prof. Louise Trygstad (USA):
Prof. R. Buccheri (USA) and Prof. Louise Trygstad (USA): Prof. R. Buccheri (USA), DNSc., ARNP, Professor, USF School of Nursing, San Francisco, USA, San Francisco, Louise Trygstad, DNSc, RN, CNS, Professor Emerita, USF School of Nursing
Abstract: 10 session course teaching behaviour strategy Two nurses who have been working with people who hear voices for 15 years. They are the experts and have taught us what we know about voices including what helps and what does not help. We have led a “Managing Voices and Negative Thoughts” support group for 11 years. The purpose of our 15-year research program has been to empower people to better cope with their distressing voices. Our theory based 10-session course teaches people behavioral strategies (e.g., talking to others, relaxation techniques) to manage their distressing voices including commands to harm. Participants practice a strategy twice a day for a week and then the following week learn and practice a new strategy. Attendance at the course was found to be associated with a reduction in negative characteristics of voices (i.e., frequency, self-control, clarity, tone, distractibility, distress), intensity of voices, and levels of anxiety and depression. Immediately after attendance at the course, the prevalence of commands to harm self decreased from 44% to 24% and remained at 24% for one year after completion of the course. The prevalence of commands to harm others decreased from 21% to 16% immediately after the course and was 17% one year after completion of the course. We are currently testing a revised 12-session version of the course that includes more anxiety reduction and peer providers.
Hearing voices, especially those that command harm to self and others can be extremely distressing. Some people feel powerless to resist acting on those commands. So it is not surprising that hearing commands to harm can increase anxiety, depression, suicide, and violence towards others. The purpose of this research project was to empower people to better cope with and manage their distressing voices and harm commands. Our 15 year research program has developed a 10-session Behavioral Management of Persistent Auditory Hallucinations Course by learning from clients who experience auditory hallucinations, building on existing research and theory, and using a multidisciplinary team of expert clinicians and scholars to develop and test the course. Each of the 10 classes teaches a different behavioral strategy (e.g., talking with others, relaxation techniques). Participants practice the strategy twice a day for a week and then the following week learn and practice a new strategy. Statistically significant improvements in negative characteristics of auditory hallucinations (i.e., frequency, self-control, clarity, tone, distractibility, distress), anxiety, and depression were found. Some improvements were maintained for one-year (i.e., frequency, self-control, clarity, distractibility), a reduction in anxiety was maintained for 9 months. Immediately after the course, command hallucinations to harm self decreased from 44% of participants to 24% and remained at 24% for one year. Commands to harm others decreased from 21% of participants to 16% immediately after the course, and were 17% after one year. Persons with lower levels of anxiety prior to starting the course improved more than those with higher anxiety levels. We have published our experience and findings and taught many nurses to teach the course. Both patients and nurses report the course is helpful. Our current study offers the course worldwide. We are working on incorporating more anxiety reduction strategies and using peer providers.
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Peter Bullimore (UK) Founder of Paranoia Network, England, "I spent over ten years in the psychiatric system in England often forcibly detained under the mental health act. I was given a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia and was told I would never work again I spent years experiencing violent voices and extreme paranoia and would spend years in a drug induced state the medication never worked so with the help of a very good worker and the hearing voices network I was able to come of my drugs and learn more about my experiences and use more holistic approaches. I still hear voices daily but understand them more, I am now run the Sheffield Hearing Voices network I am chair of a training and consultancy agency called Asylum Associates and recently founded the International Paranoia Network, I spend 70-80 hours per week travelling the world delivering training on hearing voices and paranoia."
Abstract: The importance of the 3 stages of voice hearing and paranoiaThe presentation will look at how hearing voices and paranoia is often seen as an illness when it is a common human experience and how psychiatrist’s views are very subjective and based on no evidence. I will look at the 3 stages of paranoia and how it is different from the 3 stages of hearing voices I will also look at working with unusual beliefs and paranoia from a common sense and holistic approach. The presentation will look at positive interventions that can be used during the three stages of hearing voices and paranoia and ways of coping with each experience’s. If the 3 stages are implemented during the onset of person’s experiences of hearing voices and paranoia they are positive tools that should be used by early intervention. How we can find a person’s dominant voice buy using protection strategies and the importance of protection strategies to help an individual deal with an increase in their voices and paranoia while finding and challenging the dominant voice.
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M. Chawla (UK): Consultant psychiatrist from India living and working in the UK.
Abstract: Voice hearing due to childhood issues and getting over-diagnosed as schizophrenia People hear voices due to mostly childhood issues and get overdiagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and given unnecessary tablets which are doing long term harm to their brains.
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Jim Chapman (UK), Mervyn Morris (UK)
Jim Chapman (UK), Mervyn Morris (UK): Jim Chapman, RMN, MA, PGCert. Senior Lecturer, Clinical Skills Division, Birmingham City University, UK and Professor Mervyn Morris, Centre for Community Mental Health. Jim Chapman is senior lecturer at Birmingham City University and co-ordinates a module entitled ‘Recovery Based working with Voice Hearers’. He is interested in how students acquire new skills and begin to make use of them in their routine clinical practice. Through the module, Jim has encouraged students in Birmingham to challenge their existing beliefs about ‘schizophrenia’ and helped them to begin to work with voice hearers in the way advocated by Marius Romme and Sandra Escher, and others. Jim is currently extending this work to other parts of the UK. He continues to work clinically with voice hearers within the local mental health trust. Mervyn Morris is Professor of Community Mental Health and Director of the Centre for Community Mental Health at Birmingham City University, focussing on service redesign and developing alternative approaches through user expertise, particularly in the area of psychosis. He has worked extensively with European project partners, and for the World Health Organisation, and is Professor II at UC Buskerud, Norway. Mervyn is also Chief Executive of a mental health NGO. Mervyn has been an advocate of research and user experience around voice hearing for many years and has worked with Marius Romme and Sandra Escher for many of those years. With their collaboration a module at Birmingham City University was created, ‘Recovery-based Working with Voice Hearers’, which is based on the pioneering work of Romme and Escher. Mervyn has also collaborated on papers related to voice hearing, including “Determinants of outcome in the pathways through care for children hearing voices” with Sandra Escher, and ‘The harmful concept of schizophrenia’ with Marius Romme.
Abstract: Recovery based working with voices Evaluation of module for qualified mental health nurses and other mental health workers, which introduces and equip students with the skills to work with voice hearers in a recovery focused way, qualitative research into how well they had embedded this approach into their everyday practice. Students at Birmingham City University have been taking a module entitled Recovery Based working with Voice Hearers as part of their BSc Honours degree in Mental Health Studies. Over the last 8 years, approximately 147 students have completed the module, which is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge to work constructively with voice hearers, closely following the model as advocated by Romme & Escher. It is believed that this is the only university-based credit bearing module in existence in the UK, if not the world. Traditionally there has been a problem in the UK with the transfer of knowledge and skills in post-qualifying courses into mainstream practice. The reasons for this are complex, but include staff not feeling fully competent to use their new found skills in practice, staff not being offered enough time to use and develop these skills, and staff not feeling totally faithful to the new approaches they have been exposed to. We were curious to see how students undertaking this module had attempted to implement the work into their routine practice, and if they had encountered similar difficulties, so we invited all previous participants to take part in this research project. All 147 previous students were invited to take part in the research, and 48 agreed to this. The project comprised of four focus groups of around 12 people in each group. They were asked a series of open ended questions that established how well they thought they had implemented the work of R&E into their everyday practice. The data from the focus groups was tape recorded, and is in the process of being analysed and put into themes. It is envisaged that this process will have been completed for the conference in September, and the authors hope also to publish the findings in relevant mental health journals.
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Ron Coleman (UK) Ron Coleman has been active in the field of mental health since 1991, when affecting his own recovery from mental illness, he used his experiences to develop his ideas for recovery centered treatment of others. Since then he has went on to write numerous books and papers on the subject and was influential in the development of the Hearing Voices Network in the UK. He is a founder member of INTERVOICE and has been instrumental in nurturing and supporting the development of our organisation. Ron and his partner Karen are particularly well known for their work on Recovery and Psychosis and also specialise in ‘Self harm, Personality disorder, Risk training, Person Centred Planning’ and mental well being. Ron has set up Working to Recovery Ltd, a training and consultancy organisation.
Abstract: Owning our experience; taking back power To be received
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Dr. Dirk Corstens (NL) Dirk is a Social psychiatrist and psychotherapist working at the RIAGG (mental health service) Maastricht. Since 1992 he has been a collaborator of Romme and Escher participating in research, treatment and education on voice hearing. Leads a treatment facility for voice hearers in Maastricht. Currently preparing a PhD on courses for voice hearers and professionals and the voice dialogue method for voice hearing. Speaker at several international conferences and workshops about hearing voices.
Abstract: Making sense: a systematic method to exploring the function of the voices The so-called 'construct' is a means to restore the relationship between life history and voices. Often this relationship is lost because emotions that gave rise to the voices are difficult to bear. Voices represent situations that were too threatening to the person. To voice hearers their voices seem to speak in a strange code of which the original meaning became unclear. Making the construct helps to break this code. Several items from the Maastricht Hearing Voices Interview are used to elucidate the persons from the past and problems that the voices are representing. The way how to work with the construct is explained, several examples will be presented and how it can help to establish a more productive relationship with the voices.
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Jacqui Dillon (UK): Jacqui is the Chair of the National Hearing Voices Network, England, a user led charity which works to promote acceptance and understanding of the experiences of hearing voices, seeing visions, tactile sensations and other sensory experiences. She is an international speaker and trainer specialising in hearing voices, ‘psychosis’ and trauma. Jacqui is a member of the campaign co-ordinating committee for CASL – the Campaign to Abolish the Schizophrenia Label. She is a published writer.
Abstract: The experienced trauma treatment according to J. Herman’s book ’Trauma and recovery’
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Dr. Sandra Escher (NL): For the last 20 years she has organised the hearing voices congresses in Holland, which are held every two year, as well as the four congresses she organised for INTERVOICE in Maastricht. She also has taekn responsibility for the P.R. for the voice hearing research studies. In 1996 she started her own research with children hearing voices. A follow up study over three years interviewing, (with one colleque, she trained) 80 children, on four seperate occasions. From this study she published enough articles to form the basis of her Ph.D in 2005 she got in 2005 with Prof, Jim van Os as her promotor. Before that she had finished her M.phil on this same study. guided by Prof, Mervin Morris at the university of Central England in Birmingham.
Abstract: A training model in interviewing voice hearers about their experience
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Dr. Sandra Escher (NL): For the last 20 years she has organised the hearing voices congresses in Holland, which are held every two year, as well as the four congresses she organised for INTERVOICE in Maastricht. She also has taekn responsibility for the P.R. for the voice hearing research studies. In 1996 she started her own research with children hearing voices. A follow up study over three years interviewing, (with one colleque, she trained) 80 children, on four seperate occasions. From this study she published enough articles to form the basis of her Ph.D in 2005 she got in 2005 with Prof, Jim van Os as her promotor. Before that she had finished her M.phil on this same study. guided by Prof, Mervin Morris at the university of Central England in Birmingham.
Abstract: Preventive changes with children hearing voices
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Brendan Georgeson (UK)
Abstract: Recontextualising to accept and make sense of voices
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Tilly Gerritsma (NL), Titus Rivas (NL)
Tilly Gerritsma (NL), Titus Rivas (NL):
Abstract: Voices and inspiration, voices and emotions In 2007 Tilly Gerritsma, a 'highly sensitive person' from the Netherlands, wrote an autobiographical book about hearing voices, Gek genoeg gewoon, together with psychologist, philosopher and psychical researcher Titus Rivas, MA, who included a comprehensive overview of the relevant literature. Tilly's own experiences with the phenomenon of hearing voices began when she heard a voice that said “Faith” and “Trust” to her - in English - which made her realise that she was not alone any longer. She felt supported by the voice and assumed that it came from the 'other side'. This particular belief was reinforced by the convictions of a sympathetic psychic healer. Tilly decided to accept the phenomenon and did not consult a psychologist about it. She opened herself completely to the experience, but, after a while, she found out that it also had a chaotic influence on her life. It was as if her sensitivity was increased to such an extent that there was an overkill of information. Therefore, she decided to take charge of her own mind again. Thirteen years later, Tilly's thinking about this event has become broader in that she believes the voice might also have been produced by her own subconscious mind. By then, she had read a lot of books about psychology, psychiatry and spirituality. Tilly actually had been in need of emotional support when she started hearing the voice. Tilly went through a difficult period in her life with major problems with her sons and she felt desolate. The voice healed her emotional trust. However, she believes her 'emotional balance' had not been completely restored yet, and that's why other voices tried to flood her with unwanted information. Independently, she took several important steps to improve her inner balance and she's grateful that her voices made her more aware of her emotional problems. Tilly wishes to stress that voices can be positive as well as negative. In the positive sense, voices can often be wise counsellors and helpers. Even persons who suffer from negative voices can sometimes be helped by positive ones. In her own life, the influence of her positive voice was transformed into inspiration which helped her take a different look at all kinds of issues. Since then, she has also had many experiences with telepathy which made her realise that everyone is connected. Based on the available literature, Titus Rivas endorses a the legitimacy of a psychogenic and spiritual interpretation of Tilly's experiences, and those of others with a similar story.
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Dr. J. Gerritsma (NL):
Abstract: An introduction course in accepting voices
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L. v.d. Giessen (NL), W. v. Staalen (NL)
L. v.d. Giessen (NL), W. v. Staalen (NL):
Abstract: Hearing voices related to severe abuse Together with my foster daughter we should like to present her recovery to the congress. Her mental disfunctioning was caused by severe abuse of all kinds during the first half of her life. It took about thirteen years to overcome dissociation, psychosis etc, etc. We want to emphasize that hearing voices and psychotic episodes should not automatically lead to the diagnosis schizophrenia. That medication sometimes is necessary during a certain period of time and that the buddies should work together with the experts. We also want to talk about physical examination of the client. Many of the so called psychiatric clients suffer from neurological or other physical defects, but they are treated in the psychiatric department. Last but not least we want to focus on the idea that it becomes time to research what the effects are if a patient want to get rid of the medication.
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Heather Glancy (UK): voice hearer, facilitator and a member of both a mixed Hearing Voices group and a women-only Hearing Voices group
Abstract: The Benefits of Women-only Hearing Voices Groups I have been a facilitator and a member of both a mixed Hearing Voices group and a women-only Hearing Voices group. Our women-only group has been running for 7 years. In this presentation I shall share with you some of my experiences being involved in a women-only group and how our group has developed over the years. I will explore and highlight the benefits that I believe women-only groups can offer. Finally, I shall provide some quotes from the women themselves about why they value women-only groups.
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Lia Govers (I):
Abstract: Achieving full recovery through becoming aware of meaning
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Wilton Hall (USA): was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent a year in San Francisco's public mental health system. After discovering his own pathway to recovery, Will became co-founder of the support community Freedom Center in Massachusettts. Today Will is internationally recognized for his advocacy and educational work. He is a co-coordinator of The Icarus Project, host of the FM radio show Madness Radio (www.madnessradio.net), and has been a consultant with Mental Disability Rights International. He recently started a new group in Oregon, Portland Hearing Voices (www.portlandhearingvoices.net). More information at www.willhall.org.
Abstract: Coming off medication; a harm reduction approach What is the most effective approach to reducing and coming off psychiatric medications? The Icarus Project and Freedom Center are US peer-run support communities that recently published the 40-page Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs. The Guide gathers the best information we've come across and the most valuable lessons we've learned in 8 years of helping each other explore coming off.
A 'harm reduction' approach doesn't mean being pro- or anti- medication. It means supporting people to make their own decisions balancing the risks and benefits involved. Adverse effects and other dangers of psychiatric medications are examined alongside circumstances where medications have great usefulness.
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Paul Hammersley (UK): is a psychologist based at the Spectrum Centre, University of Lancaster.
Abstract: Campaign for the abolition of the schizophrenia label In 2005 after a Hearing Voices Network conference in Manchester UK, a group of individuals consisting of Peter Bullimore, Jacqui Dillon, Paul Hammersley and the late Terry McLaughlin decided to form a Campaign to have the diagnosis / label of schizophrenia removed from psychiatry. The campaign was motivated by two main reasons, firstly the very poor science that underlies the diagnosis of schizophrenia, secondly the appalling stigma associated with this label and the unfair association it has with hopelessness and dangerousness. The campaign was joined by Marius Romme and Sandra Escher along with other academics and individuals from within the users movement, the campaign was formally launched at The Science Media Centre in London in 2005, and the first CASL conference which was a sell out was held at Thornton Hall in Merseyside in October 2006. CASL now has supporters all over the world and is actively campaigning to have the diagnosis of schizophrenia removed or at least significantly modified in the new diagnostic manuals which are to be published in 2011. This presentation will comprise of the reasons behind the forming of CASL, the progress to date and advice on how you can help
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Brian Hartnett (IR): is a voice hearer and founder of HVN Ireland, Ireland, A Peer Advocate with The Irish Advocacy Network (IAN). He has also started an organisation called Hearing Voices Ireland (HVI). He facilitates the Friends group for Schizophrenia Ireland (SI) {soon to be known as Shine}. This is a self help group for people with mental health difficulties not just Schizophrenia. I am also helping Shane Maher who set up Campaign Against Suicide (CAS) to open up a drop in centre in Limerick for people who are suicidal. I am also a member of The National Service User Executive (NSUE). NSUE is like a union for service users. They also support carers and have produced an information booklet for carers called 'The Journey Together' in conjunction with the HSE, IAN and Shine.
Abstract: The Irish solution Lessons learnt from developing hearing voices work in Ireland.
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Jacqueline Hayes (UK): I'm currently working on a PhD at the University of Manchester and training as a therapist. Has had personal experiences of hearing voices and worked closely with people who hear voices in therapy work and in supported housing.
Abstract: Hearing voices in bereavement In this talk I will present some recent research concerning hearing voices in bereavement. This is based on an ongoing study of detailed narrative interviews with a variety of bereaved participants. First I will look briefly at how these experiences have been traditionally understood in psychiatry and psychology. There is little research on the subject to-date but what is there shows that these are relatively common experiences in a bereavement, rich with emotion and meaning, but often kept private due to significant stigma. I will then show through the use of case studies drawn from the current study how the bereaved make meaning and sense of their experiences – by reference to their former everyday life with the deceased, and their loss. Further I will show that these voices often are embedded in a family of related experiences denoting the continued presence of the deceased including visions, smells, touch and dreams. I will ask the questions – what functions do these experiences have in the bereavement? And, what role do they have in coping with the loss? And finally I will show that in making sense of these experiences, participants draw on a variety of sources of meaning – from personal biography, to psychology, psychiatry, religion and spirituality. The result is that by studying hearing voices through such illuminating personal accounts, rather than within a medical framework, the experiences are normalised.
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Mark Haywood (UK): Clinical Psychology at the University of Surrey, UK, Mark Hayward works as a Clinical Psychologist. His academic remit includes lecturing on the Doctoral Programme. Within the NHS he works as Director of Research within Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Specialist interests and publications span three areas: the experience of hearing voices; the involvement of service users and carers within training and research; and training in psychological understandings of psychosis and psychotic experiences. Work with people who hear voices has spanned several years and has recently focussed on the exploration of voices within a relational framework – acknowledging the voice as an interpersonal ‘other’ and researching differing aspects of the relationships that people develop with the voices they hear. These relationships are currently the subject of therapeutic scrutiny as a new form of individual therapy (‘Relating Therapy’) seeks to assertively engage the voice and transform distressing relationships into those that are experienced as more balanced and less intrusive. In collaboration with Professor Paul Chadwick (University of Southampton), a contrasting form of group therapy is being developed that draws upon relational and mindfulness frameworks to enable the hearer to disengage from distressing voices.
Abstract: Understanding voices in a relational framework The experience of hearing voices has been construed as that of relating to an interpersonal other. Attempts to understand the relationships that people may develop with their voices have drawn upon three interpersonal theories: Benjamin’s (1989) Structural Analysis of Social Behaviour; Gilbert’s Social Rank Theory (Birchwood et al (2004): and Birtchnell’s Relating Theory (Hayward, 2003; Vaughan & Fowler, 2004). Findings suggest that relationships with voices may influence the emotional response of the hearer. Similarities with patterns of social relating have also been found. Many related questions are currently being explored. What does the use of a relational framework mean to people who hear voices? Are we merely socialising people to an interpersonal understanding, or do relationships with voices make intuitive sense (Chin, Hayward & Drinnan, 2009)? What of the experiences of people who hear voices and do not require support from mental health services? Do such individuals relate differently to their voices (Sorrell, Hayward & Meddings, 2009)? What about the amenability to change of relationships with voices? Can change be facilitated through a therapeutic process (Hayward & May, 2007; Hayward et al, in press)? This presentation will address these questions with reference to qualitative and quantitative findings from recent studies. The value of a relational framework to enhancing understandings and facilitating recovery will be explored by sharing lessons learnt from a case series of individual therapy and an ongoing trial of group therapy.
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Mike Jackson, Katie Thornton (UK)
Mike Jackson, Katie Thornton (UK):
Abstract: Comparing benign and pathological voices
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Marlene Janssen (Australia): is coordinator of the Hearing Voices Network Australia.
Abstract: Hearing voices and self-care Hearing Voices and Self Care, Key Words: A meaningful life: self care, sustainability How often does it happen to you that you see someone loitering along the shop-front footpaths, muttering to themselves under their breath, wearing dirty clothes and sporting an unkempt appearance? How often do we take a wide berth around such people? Because of the “restraints” on talking about Hearing Voices and other like experiences, consumers tend to hide these experiences from mental health professionals. As a result, they are neglecting to care for themselves in a holistic way and maintain good health. The ideas surrounding Voices are still in the dark, and most see them as negative and bad, making consumers “mad”, because they are experiencing something out of the ordinary. Traditional psychiatry would rather consumers take medications to suppress Voices, rather than working with them. The lack of self-care impacts on how mental health workers interpret consumer attitudes and the common perception is that those who look unkempt and don’t take care of themselves do not want to work on their recovery. What consumers need is encouragement, support and education in how to look after themselves. This paper will discuss the importance of self-care when hearing voices or other like experiences, and how mental health workers can support consumers in taking care of their basic human needs. Learning Objective One: What will people in the audience gain or learn from attending this presentation? The aim is that consumers will learn the importance of looking after themselves even if they hear voices, and that mental health workers will understand why consumers tend to neglect themselves and not take proper care of themselves and their own health. A number of tips will be provided that the audience can take home with them and try, so that their self-care enhances. Learning Objective Two: How is this topic/issue relevant to mental health services and mental health issues? Oftentimes consumers are misunderstood if they appear to be self-neglected, and mental health workers interpret unkempt appearances and bad nutritional intake as a sign of refusal to work on their recovery and to help themselves get back on their feet and their life on track again. This myth needs to be dispelled, as many consumers are giving it their full 100%, but need assistance to meet up to the expected of them standards to gain mental health workers’ approval. Workers within mental health services need to understand fully the concept of hearing voices and the difficulty associated with this in relation to self-care.
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Douglas Holmes (Australia): Douglas Holmes, voice hearer from NSW, Australia
Abstract: Using the media to improve our profile will examine how Douglas Holmes, voice hearer from NSW, Australia has used different media including Journalism, Public relations, Films, Internet, Mobile, Publishing, Magazines, Newspapers, Mass wire media and "Personal" Media to promote hearing voices in NSW & Australia. The example I particularly want to focus on at the conference is how through the above technique I was involved in a major television promotion about Hearing Voices in Australia co-hosted by Andrew Denton in 2007 titled: Angels and Demons1 over 1,000,000 people were reported to have seen this show on the Australian Broadcasting Commission in May 2008 then similar numbers when it was repeated again in Oct 2009. The show also received a 2009 TheMHS Gold Award for broadcast media at the 2008 TheMHS Auckland conference www.themhs.org.
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Dr. J. Jenner (NL):
Abstract: Illustration and amplification of the HIT-programme The treatment model will be presented and discussed together with two new instruments that have been developed as part of HIT.
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Dr. Simon Jones (UK):UK I am a researcher interested in the history of hearing voices, the causes of hearing voices, and strategies that help people cope with voices. I received his Doctorate from Durham University in the UK.
Abstract: Emanuel Swedenborg and his experiences Considering the extraordinary voices and visions of Emanuel Swedenborg: psychospiritual crises and the meaning of hallucinations.Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) initial career was that of a man of science, and he spent the first half of his life working in the fields of chemistry, biology, and geology, as well as physiology and mathematics. However, at the age of 50, after a series of vivid dreams, and night-time hallucinations, he developed day-time hallucinations which he experienced for over 30 years, until his death. These experiences and their theological meaning became Swedenborg’s focus for the rest of his life. Swedenborg wrote down many of his experiences, and left us detailed reports of his hallucinations. He reported how he saw and talked with angels and spirits, experienced visions of Heaven and Hell, and also underwent a range of other hallucinatory experiences. I firstly examine what exactly Swedenborg experienced, and how this compares to hallucinations experienced by people today. I then go onto examine how Swedenborg’s experiences were understood by his contemporaries, and people of subsequent generations. I then show that attempts by 19th- and 20th-century psychiatrists to explain Swedenborg’s experiences as being due to either schizophrenia or epilepsy are likely to be misplaced. Instead, I argue that although Swedenborg experienced extensive hallucinations, he wasn’t mentally ill. I also note similarities between Swedenborg’s experiences and near-death experiences. Finally, I address what might have caused his hallucinations. I suggest that the combination of a psychospiritual crisis which he underwent, his nutritional intake, as well as his habit of undertaking slow meditative breathing, may all have contributed to the formation of his experiences. I conclude that the example of Swedenborg who, after the onset of his hallucinations, was able to learn Hebrew and make presentations to the Swedish parliament, illustrates that it is quite possible to experience hallucinations without the need to consider them a medical or mental illness.
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B. Kårkvik (N), A. Kalhoven (N), F. Leroi (N), K. Hugdahl (N), E. Vedul-Kjelsås (N)
B. Kårkvik (N), A. Kalhoven (N), F. Leroi (N), K. Hugdahl (N), E. Vedul-Kjelsås (N): Bodil Kråkvik works as a leader of a research department at Nidaros DPS, St.Olavs Hospital in Trondheim (Norway). She is a reg. mental health nurse and is engaged as a leader of a randomised, controlled trial of cognitive therapy for persons suffering from delusions and auditory hallucinations.
Anne Martha Kalhovde is a reg. mental health nurse and PhD student at the University hospital in Nothern-Norway, Tromsø. She been engaged in interview studies on experiences with voices, establishing selfhelp groups for voicehearers in the region and a norwegian hearing voices website www.romforstemmer.no".
Frank Larøi works as a lecturer and researcher in the Cognitive Psychopathology Unit, University of Liège (Belgium). His research interests include examining cognitive and emotional mechanisms involved in hearing voices in nonclinical participants.
Kenneth Hugdahl is professor of Biological Psychology and Adjunct professor of Psychiatry at the University of Bergen. He has experience with neuropsychological and fMRI studies of auditory laterality, including patients who report "hearing voices".
Abstract: Prevalence of hearing voices in the normal population Traditionally, hearing voices has been related to mental disorders and abnormal behaviour. Several studies in the US, and Europe have shown that people in the general population hear voices. These studies give reason to believe that the majority of individuals in the general population who hear voices are not in need of mental health care. Decreasing prejudice and taboos related to hearing voices seems to be important for both those in need of mental health care and those who manage without. There has been little focus on this in Norway.
Aim: We aim to give prevalence figures from the general population in Norway in the first community-based prevalence study in Scandinavia. Furthermore, we want to increase the knowledge about hearing voices among health workers, and to decrease prejudice in the population.
Method: A total of 8000 women and men aged 18-90 years, randomly recruited in a two-step design with postal questionnaires and subsequent interviews. The Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale (LSHS, Launay and Slade, 1981; modified version Larøi et al., 2004) were used.
Results: Preliminary results will be available in September.
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Dr. Julie Kirby (UK):
Abstract: The experience of voice-hearing Findings of a study undertaken with the assistance of HVN England. The voice-hearers (62 in total) who particpated in the study include mental health service users, ex- mental health service users and people who have never been mental health service users.
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F. Laroi (B):
Abstract: Emotion regulation trauma and hallucination proneness
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Prof. Ivan Leudar (UK): is basede at the School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Manchester, Ivan Leudar was born in Czechoslovakia but lived most of his life in the U.K. He is now a professor of analytical and historical psychology at the University of Manchester. His recent publications include Voices of Reason, Voices of Insanity (2000, Routledge, with Phil Thomas), Conversation Analysis and Psychotherapy (2008, CUP, with Annsi Perakyla et al) and Against Theory of Mind (2009, Palgrave/MacMillan, with Alan Costall). His work on hearing voices aims to document voice hearers’ own understanding of their experiences and it focuses on methods they use to endow these experiences with meaning. His current projects investigate voices in everyday life and especially in bereavement. One aim is to normalise these experiences by documenting their variety in both contemporary world and through studies of historical cases. He is currently working on a book that might be entitled Historical Psychology.
Abstract: The sources of meaning in voice hearing Psychiatry and cognitive clinical Psychology attempt to provide explanations for voices in a natural science paradigm, for example as results of faulty reality testing, which are caused by specific brain dysfunctions. In doing this, however, both lose the essential aspect of these experiences, that they are meaningful. On the rare occasions that they note what the voices mean to the hearer they see the meanings as pathogenic - there is for instance, a long tradition in Psychiatry to consider voices as a source of delusions. The result is that such approaches, despite much research effort, throw very little light on the experiences of hearing voices. In all of my research I treat the experiences of hearing voices as meaningful and enquire into the sources of their meaning. In this respect my work is of course not unique – one influential contemporary approach for instance sees voices as representing abuse in the person’s past, another considers that the experiences serve to retain for a time the deceased person in the world of the bereaved person. Clearly, however, these sorts of meaning are only some of many possible. The talk will summarise our past research on voices - the principles that guide it and its results. To anticipate the talk: (i) our historical research documents resources for understanding hearing voices provided by cultures very different from our own. (The ancient Greek poet Hesiod, for instance, was able to think of the voice he heard as that of Muses and make use of it in his poetry). (ii) Our method is to work with as wide a variety of individual voice hearers as possible and to elucidate the meanings of voices for them, and their sources. (iii) Our findings indicate that voice-talk is typically linguistically simple yet meaningful because the words and sounds of voices are always understood in the settings that are formulated for the voices by the voice hearers. Such settings usually integrate the concrete occasion, somewhat broader field of voice hearer’s ongoing activities as well as his or her biography. The voices are, however, not just understood in the context formulated for them, they can also change the current experience by bringing in and making relevant information from other times and places in the person’s life. Case examples will be provided to document some of the methods voice hearers use to make voices meaningful in this way.
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Eleanor Longden (UK): is a psychology undergraduate and former trustee of the Hearing Voices Network, currently working in an Early Intervention in Psychosis team. As a past user of psychiatric services, she has a strong interest in promoting tolerance, awareness and positive explanations for mental health issues and for the last four years has worked in both clinical and academic capacities to endorse creative, enabling approaches to experiences such as voice hearing, unusual beliefs and self-injury. Eleanor was part of the group who established the award-winning Bradford Self-Injury Service and has worked closely with Dr. Dirk Corstens in developing and promoting the innovative Voice Dialoguing technique in the UK.
Abstract: Adopting a non-judgemental and tolerant acceptance to voice hearing
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Prof. Dr. A. Loonen (NL):
Abstract: Do neurolepetics work?
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Sigari Luckwell (AU): Sigari Luckwell is a senior clinical psychologist from, Australia, Sigari works currently part-time as a Senior Clinical Psychologist with the Western Australian Mental Health Service. She also has a part-time private practice and teaches meditation courses in the community. Originally trained in Clinical Psychology BA Hons at theUniversity of WA, (1969-1972) and M. Clin Psych. (1976-1977), Sigari’s background has included years of work in prisons (1972-1976), mental hospitals (1977-1981), student counselling (1976) working with both adults and children in all fields. In 1982 she qualified as an Analytical Psychologist (Jungian) and also undertook training and subsequent work in Art-Therapy, Dance-Therapy, Rebirthing and Meditation. In 1996 she qualified as a Cranio-Sacral Practitioner.
Abstract: Developing awareness in relations to one’s voices Coming from Beyond. Are voice-hearers nuts? Are they receiving information or guidance? Are they like the alcoholic who temporarily hears messages when going through the process of withdrawl. And then, what about those many, ordinary instances in half sleep when some of us hear something said? Are voice-hearers nuts? Are they receiving information or guidance? Are they like the alcoholic who temporarily hears messages when going through the process of withdrawl. And then, what about those many, ordinary instances in half sleep when some of us hear something said? We have moved along from the days when hearing voices was considered the prerogative of the psychotic mad man. I mean, what do we make of St. Paul on the road to Damascus? Did he have a psychotic episode, or was he inspired by the word of God? What makes the difference? What makes the difference is the groundedness of the voice-hearer. Many people have or profess a psychic capacity (is their third eye more open in the sixth chakra?) but if you look at their present-moment awareness, they are not necessarily grounded in their bodies. Do some psychics tend to be overweight because they are out of their bodies much of the time? It takes an openness of the entire being to have our feet rooted on the ground and our arms outstretched to heaven; it takes awareness: an awareness that encompasses the physical body , the emotional, astral, mental and spiritual. Western pioneers like Freud and Jung mapped out the unconscious at the beginning of the twentieth century. From the east we more have maps of the superconscious that reveal more meditative states. Let’s look at these together so that voice-hearing as pathology or guidance or just ‘one of those things’ becomes clearer. Even so-called pathology is largely conceptual and can be explored for the feeling tone and physical dynamics that ask for expression from within. The other question to ask is, ‘Has the ego gotten hold of the voice for its own ends?’ Or, is the voice- hearer so egoless, that the phenomenon is no big deal because it is a natural facility of being at one with existence. All voice-hearing is of the mind whether of the unconscious or of the superconscious: the next step is beyond the mind into meditation.
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